TEHRAN – Iran-5+1 group joint committee held its first round of talks on Friday in Vienna.

It was the first meeting since the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), went into force on January 16, 2016. 

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and EU deputy foreign policy chief Helga Schmid chaired the talks.

Araqchi said that the talks focused on the procedure of the implementation of the JCPOA and actions to be taken in the future.

Iran has said still some European banks are hesitant to do business with Iran, fearing a U.S. punishment. In her recent visit to Tehran Schmid’s chief Federica Mogherini vowed to help remove banking restrictions on Iran.

Araqchi and Schmid held two rounds of talks in Vienna on October 19 and December 7, 2015 before implementing the JCPOA.

In an interview with IRNA published on Friday, Araqchi also said the recent U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against Iran runs contrary to international law and is an international “banditry”.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that almost $2bn in frozen Iranian assets must be turned over to American families of people killed in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other attacks blamed on Iran.

However, Araqchi said that the issue is unrelated to the JCPOA.

Iran and the 5+1 group - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany - finalized the text of the JCPOA in Vienna on July 14, 2015.

NA/PA