China Urges US to Resume JCPOA Compliance, Defuse Tensions

“The US withdrawal from the JCPOA and its maximum pressure on Iran are the root causes of the Iran nuclear issue deviating from the right direction. The US returning to the deal and resuming compliance is the right way for defusing the tensions,” Hua Chunying wrote on her Twitter account on Tuesday.

The tweet came a day after Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in an address to a virtual meeting of foreign ministers of the remaining parties to the JCPOA, also criticized the United States for quitting the landmark deal.

Wang said the Iran nuclear situation has come to a critical juncture as US President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the deal, at the same time that Washington has been mounting more pressure on Tehran.

The meeting was chaired by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell. It was initially planned to be held in Vienna on December 16, however, it was later moved online.

The delegations of the remaining parties, namely Iran, China, Russia, the UK, France and Germany spoke remotely from the capitals of the parties to the deal and issued a joint statement at the conclusion of the informal online meeting.

"JCPOA participants re-emphasized their commitment to preserve the agreement and stressed their respective efforts in this regard. They discussed that full and effective implementation of the JCPOA by all remains crucial and discussed the need to address ongoing implementation challenges, including on nuclear non-proliferation and sanctions lifting commitments," read part of the statement.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.

Tasnim