Iran, G5+1 Discuss JCPOA in Vienna

Representatives from Iran, the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany convened in the Austrian city of Vienna on Friday for a meeting of the JCPOA.

One European diplomat said representatives from Europe were desperate to save the JCPOA from a possible collapse, which could be a case due to policies adopted by US President Donald Trump.

"We need to make sure that we don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, so we keep the nuclear agreement and we act on the rest in parallel,” said the diplomat.

The meeting comes ahead of a May 12 deadline for US President Donald Trump to extended waivers of economic sanctions on Iran.

He vowed in January, when he last extended those waivers, not to do so again unless the Europeans meet his demands to fix what he calls “flaws” in the deal.

European Union foreign ministers are expected to affirm that they believe the deal with Iran is good, and work to discourage Trump from pulling out of the deal in May.

Ahead of the talks, a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official has ruled out speculation that Iran could accept a side deal to the JCPOA, saying the international document is basically not re-negotiable.