IRNA – Russian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said in a Twitter post that the remaining participants of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) emphasized that the US is no longer a participant, which means Washington’s attempts to activate the snapback mechanism is null and void.

Ulyanov wrote, “The Joint Commission on #JCPOA reaffirmed today common conviction of its participants that US, who withdrew from this agreement on 8 May 2018, can not be considered a nuclear deal participant (i.e. snapback attempt is null and void).”

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had already said that the meeting was “routine” that was held every three months in the context of the JCPOA, adding that the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting was delayed a bit due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Araqchi and Secretary-General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid co-chaired the meeting convened in Vienna on Tuesday.

Due to simultaneity with the US attempts to restore previous UN resolutions to annihilate the JCPOA, the Joint Commission meeting is of special importance, said Araqchi, in an interview with the IRIB News Agency.

During presidential elections campaign, two after withdrawing from the deal, Donald Trump Administration has claimed that it is still a JCPOA participant and is trying to activate the snapback mechanism, which has been roundly rejected by the UNSC members.

Last June, the White House announced that it would present a resolution to the UNSC to extend Iran’s arms embargo, which was roundly turned down on August 15. Only the US and Dominican Republic gave a yes to the draft resolution. The incident is considered a humiliating failure for US diplomacy system.

Then on August 21, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a letter to the UN for snapback invocation against Iran in order to bring back in 30 days the sanctions lifted by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the UNSCR 2231, which was rejected by four permanent and nine non-permanent members of the Security Council in the first 24 hours after. They voiced that Washington’s demand has no legal basis.