Chinese envoy calls for political decisions to revive Iran nuke deal

VIENNA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna Wang Qun on Monday urged relevant parties to make political decisions in the final stage of the Vienna talks to seek a deal restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Wang made the remarks at a meeting of the Joint Commission on the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), held here. Representatives from Iran, Russia, Britain, France and Germany also attended the meeting, which was chaired by Enrique Mora, deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Service.

The Chinese envoy said the negotiations have entered the "final critical stage," and relevant parties are "seeing hopes of reviving the JCPOA."

He called on all parties to show wisdom and political determination at this stage to reach an agreement, instead of "falling one step short of success."

China commends the vital role played by the European Union (EU) coordinators in the negotiations and acknowledges the efforts by all other parties to reach a deal, Wang said, adding that Iran's legitimate and reasonable demands on pending issues should be addressed in an appropriate manner.

He stated that China will continue to work with all other parties to seek an early agreement from the perspectives of upholding the JCPOA and safeguarding multilateralism and the global non-proliferation regime.

The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (namely the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, plus Germany), together with the EU. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the pact in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, which prompted the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments and advance its halted nuclear programs.

Since April 2021, Iran and the other five remaining parties to the JCPOA have held rounds of talks in Vienna to revive the deal.