Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov

The INSTEX payment mechanism for trade with Iran and the situation around heavy water reactor in Arak will be the main topics at the upcoming meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

Iran Press/Europe: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday that the main topics of the upcoming meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Iran nuclear deal, will be the INSTEX mechanism and the heavy water reactor in Arak.

If the INSTEX mechanism would be opened to third countries in order to buy Iranian oil, then the chances of saving the JCPOA will increase, Ryabkov stated, reported Sputnik

“As for increasing the production of heavy water by Iran, it is not so rapid for turning it into the most pressing, acute and urgent problem”, Ryabkov said ahead of the meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The extraordinary meeting will be held on 28 July in Vienna. “Of course, INSTEX will be discussed, but there are a lot of other issues. All projects that are being implemented and experiencing difficulties, including those related to the US threats and the direct application of sanctions — Fordow, Arak and the rest — of course, will be the main topics”, Ryabkov said.

The statement comes after Tehran announced in May that it had partially discontinued its commitments under the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal following the United States' withdrawal of   the JCPOA in 2018,  imposing more economic sanctions on Iran, the country issued a stern warning to the European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) giving them a 60-day period to fulfil their obligations, promises and commitments under the JCPOA, and warning them that Iran's patience has reached its limit, and Tehran now expects to see the European signatories to the agreement implement their obligations.

Later on July 7, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran is going to take the second step towards the reduction of its commitments within JCPOA, with uranium enrichment exceeding the %3.67 percent limit.

On the same day, responding to Iran press correspondent's question about INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) and the possibility of not benefiting from it by selling oil, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said: "Islamic Republic does not count on any specific country, let alone Europeans and INSTEX."

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"We will definitely not let the US achieve its goals by using its maximum pressures strategy. We will dash the hopes of the US [administration], we will disappoint them", he responded to an Iran Press correspondent's question at a news conference in Tehran Under the third phase of reducing commitments, Iran said Arak reactor would resume its previous activities after July 7 if the other signatories to the deal fail to uphold their end of the bargain.104/203

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