South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and the United States special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, held phone discussions on Thursday to discuss cooperation over negotiations to restore the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry here, South Korea Vice Foreign Minister reiterated the country’s commitment to providing the support necessary for the resumption of the negotiations "in consideration of the importance of Seoul-Tehran relations", as per reports.

Robert Malley asked for Seoul to continue to play a "constructive" role in the efforts to restart the talks.  The US government under former President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments to the agreement from May 2019.

The JCPOA Joint Commission began to meet offline on April 6 in Vienna to continue previous discussions about a possible return of the US to the deal. After 6 rounds of discussions which ended on June 20, serious differences remain between Iran and the US on restoring the deal.

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