The in-person meeting of the joint commission of the JCPOA was held in Vienna. There were no direct contacts between Tehran and Washington despite the presence of a delegation from the US.
"The lifting of US sanctions is the first and most necessary step to re-establish the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Iran is fully prepared to stop its corrective measures, returning to full implementation of the JCPOA once the sanctions are lifted and verified," Araghchi said during the meeting.
In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and the European Union. The plan required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran.
In December 2020, Iran passed a law to increase its uranium enrichment and stop UN inspections of its nuclear sites in response to the killing of nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.