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Borrell Says New JCPOA Text Finalized, Parties Need to Make Political Decisions

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that a new text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) had been finalized, and now parties need to make political decisions to conclude the deal.
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On Thursday, the negotiation process to restore the nuclear deal with Iran resumed in Vienna. Earlier on Monday, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, said that Borrell has circulated "the final text" of the draft decision of the Iranian nuclear deal.
"What can be negotiated has been negotiated, and it’s now in a final text. However, behind every technical issue and every paragraph lies a political decision that needs to be taken in the capitals. If these answers are positive, then we can sign this deal," Borrell tweeted.
The top EU diplomat noted that negotiators used these days "to fine tune and address - with technical adjustments - a handful of issues remaining in the text" during discussions and proximity talks between the United States and Iran.
Iran Won’t Be Rushed into ‘Quick’ Deal, But If US Has Same Goodwill, JCPOA Return is Close - Tehran
The United Kingdom, Russia, China, Germany, the United States, France, the European Union, and Iran signed the JCPOA in 2015, imposing restrictions on the advancement of the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from JCPOA and reimposed comprehensive sanctions, prompting Iranian authorities to respond by gradually abandoning their own commitments under the deal, specifically on nuclear research, centrifuges and the level of uranium enrichment. Both countries expressed interest in resuming talks on the JCPOA after Joe Biden replaced Trump at the White House.
In December 2021, JCPOA parties agreed on two drafts of the new deal, but no definitive agreement has been reached. Since then, the parties had several rounds of talks on the revival of the deal.
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