The head of China's delegation, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China Fu Cong stated at an emergency meeting in Vienna dedicated to the Iranian nuclear deal that all sides of the agreement expressed their commitment to the obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in order to continue its implementation in a balanced way.
The official underscored the opposition of all the signatories of the deal to US policies against Iran. According to Fu, "all parties expressed that they fully rejected the unilateral sanctions of the United States, and in particular, opposed the extraterritorial use of these sanctions."
"The parties also expressed support for the attempts of China to implement the JCPOA, in particular on the issue of supporting trade and stable relations with Iran", Fu Cong said.
According to the diplomat, China has called on the European Union to create conditions for the participation of third parties in the INSTEX trade settlements mechanism with Iran, noting that the European nations had heeded this call.
“The INSTEX issue was also raised. As for China’s concern, we call for expanding INSTEX to include other areas of the economy. We also call for expanding this tool for everyone, for third countries”, said Fu Cong.
The diplomat also underlined that Iran and international mediators intend to properly prepare a ministerial meeting on a nuclear deal so that it concludes with a tangible result.
"We have a general agreement that a ministerial meeting has the potential to take place. But we agree that we need to be well-prepared for it. We need to have tangible results at the ministerial meeting," the official stated.
Tensions between the United States and Iran have worsened since Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018.
A year later, Tehran announced that it had partially discontinued its commitments under the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal. Iran gave Europe 60 days to ensure that the nation's interests were protected under the agreement, pledging to otherwise further curb its obligations. On July 7, the deadline expired, and Tehran announced that it would start enriching its uranium stocks beyond the 3.67 per cent level outlined in the JCPOA, and continue to gradually reduce its commitments under the treaty every 60 days unless the other signatories met their commitments.