The U.S. should put into action immediately its promise to lift unilateral sanctions against Iran, said Wang Qun, Chinese envoy to the UN and other International Organizations in Vienna. 

"Regarding the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States (against Iran), China and the parties concerned clearly expressed their concerns at the meeting and they must be lifted immediately," Wang told Xinhua after the Iran nuclear deal talks.

The Joint Commission of the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), resumed talks in Vienna again on Friday, with the lifting of sanctions on Iran and nuclear implementation measures on top of the agenda. 

Wang said that "such sanctions problems were all caused by the previous U.S. government's illegal sanctions on entities and individuals that implemented the JCPOA." 

He stressed that the lifting of these sanctions is "not only a bilateral issue, but also an important aspect of safeguarding the JCPOA, which is the result of multilateralism." 

"We have noticed that the U.S. side recently released some positive messages about the lifting of such sanctions, and we call on the U.S. to take practical actions immediately to facilitate the complete and effective implementation of the JCPOA," Wang added. 

The Joint Commission has tasked expert groups to continue their work and agreed to reconvene in Vienna in the course of next week, the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a press release on Friday after the meeting. 

Read more: Major powers meet separately with U.S., Iran on nuclear deal

Meanwhile,  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that all sanctions imposed on Tehran by former President Donald Trump targeted the 2015 nuclear deal, regardless of their designations, must be removed. 

"All Trump sanctions were anti-JCPOA (the nuclear accord) & must be removed—w/o distinction between arbitrary designations," Zarif said on Twitter.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: The meeting of the JCPOA resumes in the Grand Hotel Wien, Vienna, April 6, 2021. /Reuters)