IRNA - The president of Austria once again described as very important the Iran nuclear deal and said his country supports the landmark accord, Austrian daily Der Standard wrote on Wednesday.

In a meeting with Austria's ambassadors on the occasion of the New Year, Alexander Van der Bellen called the deal an achievement of years-long talks and said Vienna will continue supporting it.

During a trip by Iran's President Hassan Rouhani to Vienna in 2018, Van der Bellen referred to hosting the nuclear talks by his country and said the deal commonly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a key element in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

He went on to emphasize preservation of the deal by Austria and the European Union.

JCPOA was reached between Iran and the UN Security Council's five permanent members, namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States plus Germany (P5 + 1) in 2015.

The US President Donald Trump announced in May 2018 that Washington would pull out of the landmark nuclear deal and reinstate sanctions which were lifted under the accord, a move which drew fire from other signatories to the deal which have repeatedly reiterated adherence to the deal and voiced willingness to do business with Iran.

The European Union has recently devised a financial mechanism called the special purpose vehicle (SPV) to facilitate international companies' trade with Iran.