Iran neither optimistic, nor pessimistic about JCPOA meeting

“Presently we are neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the outcome of the Vienna nuclear negotiations but we are sure we are on the right path,” Ali Rabiei tweeted on Tuesday.

He added that in case the seriousness and frankness of the US is proved, it will be a good sign for the future of this agreement resulting in its final full implementation in upcoming weeks.

Earlier in the day, Rabiei said the United States has been left with no choice but to end its law-breaking policies “in the very near future” given the failure of Washington’s so-called maximum pressure campaign in the face of the Iranian nation’s resistance.

The parties to the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, convened in the Austrian capital city, Vienna, on Tuesday in the form of the 18th Regular Joint Session of the JCPOA.

Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi led the Iranian delegation and Deputy Secretary-General of the EU for Foreign Actions Enrique Mora was present in the meeting on behalf of the EU trio.

In 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany, signed the JCPOA, which was ratified in the form of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Three years later, however, Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the JCPOA and unleashed what his team called a “maximum pressure" campaign with the stated objective of forcing Iran to negotiate “a better agreement.”

The Islamic Republic refused to bow down to the pressure and adopted instead a “maximum resistance” policy, which includes economic measures to weather the bans as well as reducing Tehran's commitments under the JCPOA.

The new US administration, under President Joe Biden, has claimed it is willing to rejoin the JCPOA but conditioned the move on Tehran’s resumption of its obligations.

Tehran says Washington, as the first party that reneged on its commitments, should take the first step towards the JCPOA’s revival and unconditionally remove all the sanctions in a verifiable manner.