TEHRAN, 17 December, 2020, (TON):  Senior diplomats from Iran and major powers have met online to discuss the state of a nuclear deal that is eroding despite conciliatory signals from United States President-elect Joe Biden.

Chaired by senior EU foreign affairs official Helga Schmid, the meeting on Wednesday of the so-called “joint commission” included the remaining signatories to the pact and was meant to prepare upcoming talks among their foreign ministers.

In the wake of the US withdrawal, Iran has retaliated by progressively abandoning limits on its nuclear activity laid down in the JCPOA, most recently planning to install advanced centrifuges at Iran’s main nuclear enrichment plant in Natanz. Last week France, Germany and Britain – collectively known as the “E3” – condemned the “deeply worrying” plan as being contrary to the nuclear deal.

After Fakhrizadeh’s kills, MPs in Iran’s hardline Parliament passed a bill calling for further expansion to Iran’s nuclear programme and an end to inspections of nuclear facilities by the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is committed and obligated to implement legislation approved by the parliament after they have undergone legal processes,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, who represented Iran in the joint commission, said after the meeting according to a statement by the foreign ministry.

Iran’s execution of dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam on Saturday has further soured the diplomatic atmosphere.

“Instead of condemning the cowardly assassination of Iran’s prominent nuclear scientist, the three European governments condemned the legal punishment of a guilty individual,” said Araghchi.

Biden has said he hopes to return the US to the deal, which was negotiated while he was vice president, but has revealed little else about forthcoming US strategy on the question.

Earlier this month, Iranian President Rouhani said the nuclear deal could be restored without negotiations. “The next person (Biden) can put up a nice piece of paper and sign it and it just needs a signature, we’ll be back where we were. It takes no time and needs no negotiations.”

The Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached in July 14, 2015, between Iran and international powers after nearly 20 months of negotiations. Under the JCPOA, Iran and the United States, Germany, Britain, China, Russia and France (known as the P5+1), as well as the European Union, agreed to lift crippling international sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program in exchange for Tehran dismantling it.

But on May 8, 2018, President Trump unilaterally pulled US out of the international nuclear deal with Iran, revived punishing sanctions as part of a “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran. One year later, Iran started abandoning key provisions of the JCPOA.