Tasnim) - Iran�s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and his Belgian counterpart Bruno van der Pluijm held negotiations on Tehran-Brussels bilateral ties and international issues.


In the meeting, held in the Belgian capital on Wednesday, van der Pluijm underlined the commitment of his country and other European states to defending the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying the nuclear accord plays a key role in international peace and security.

�We are seeking to preserve the Iran nuclear deal and believe that despite the US pullout, the JCPOA should remain intact through our patient and prudent measures because there is no alternative to the 2015 accord,� Iranian Foreign Ministry�s website quoted the Belgian diplomat as saying.

�Accordingly, we hope we would soon be able to develop the special mechanism to preserve the deal,� he added.

For his part, Araqchi said that following an increase in Washington�s illegal pressures and disruption of the balance between Tehran�s commitments and gains under the JCPOA, the failure of Europeans and other parties to ease the pressures, as they had promised to, has raised concerns about the future of the nuclear deal.

�The Europeans and other remaining parties to the nuclear deal must adopt the required mechanisms as soon as possible to guarantee Iran�s economic benefits under the deal,� the Iranian deputy minister underlined.

EU countries led by France, Germany and Britain -signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal- want to enable non-US trade with Iran to continue in defiance of Washington.

The EU has devised the special purpose vehicle (SPV), a financial mechanism, to continue trade with Iran and neutralize the US sanctions against Tehran.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).