TEHRAN, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Iran will implement the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty again if sanctions imposed by the United States against the country are lifted, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday.
"Resuming the voluntary implementation of Additional Protocol is predicated on sanctions being lifted. If possible, we would like to get to it before May 21," Araqchi, who is leading the Iranian delegation in the Vienna nuclear talks, wrote on Twitter.
Iran stopped implementing the Additional Protocol on Feb. 23, as mandated by a law ratified by the Iranian parliament in Dec. 2020.
In his tweet, Araqchi added that Iran is "serious and determined" in current negotiations, and ready to return to full implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), "even tomorrow" once sanctions are "verifiably lifted."
In response to Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and the re-imposition of sanctions, Iran has invoked clauses in the agreement to suspend the implementation of parts of its obligations.
The JCPOA Joint Commission started meetings in the Austrian capital on April 6, aiming at getting the United States to return to the deal and Iran to resume full compliance with it. Enditem