“I conveyed the president’s special message to Putin about the status quo of the JCPOA and some bilateral issues… The conversation was very useful and, God willing, it will have good results,” Zarif told IRNA, using the acronym of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Zarif said he spoke with Putin for an hour through a secure telephone.

The top diplomat added he had “intensive talks” with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow about bilateral cooperation and regional issues.

In a tweet, Zarif said both Tehran and Moscow had “identical views” on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and highlighted the need for upholding international law.

He also underlined that Iran and Russia had “agreed to conclude [a] long-term comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement.”

In a meeting with Lavrov, Zarif said Iran-Russia relations are at their strongest in decades, adding that such sustainable ties will benefit both countries and guarantee global peace and security.

Lavrov said his meeting with Zarif was an “important stage” in the joint efforts by the remaining members of the JCPOA to maintain this “most important achievement of multilateral diplomacy.”

He said Russia still believes there is the hope of rescuing the nuclear deal.

“We are convinced that there is still a chance to return the deal into a stable situation,” he said.

“In any case, we will do everything to make it happen, just like our Iranian friends,” he said.

Both ministers remarked that the deal “turned five years old” last week, with Zarif calling it a “historical international agreement.”

The JCPOA was reached between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany in 2015 in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the JCPOA and later reimposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran on the back of the deal.

Although it is no longer a party to the deal, the US is currently exerting pressure on the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo against Iran, which will expire under the JCPOA in October, as part of Washington’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

Tehran has firmly rejected Washington’s plans, stating that the US is no longer a party to the nuclear deal ever since it withdrew from the multilateral agreement.

China and Russia, which are both signatories to the JCPOA, have echoed Iran’s position.

 Press TV and AFP contributed to this story. 

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