Major states jointly explore ways to save Iran nuclear deal

After the United States pulled out of the historic Iran nuclear deal, five major states and Iran met here on Friday, promising to work together to explore ways to save it.

The parties indicated more confidence was built after the meeting.

It was the first meeting between China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Iran in a bid to save the Iran nuclear deal following the U.S. pullout.

To save the deal, all sides need to find ways to continue its implementation, including monitoring of Iranian nuclear facilities, while looking for alternative measures to secure Iran's economic interests. Due to the nature of U.S. sanctions, however, this is proving a difficult task.

Signal was clear that all sides involved were committed to saving the Iranian nuclear deal by offering Iran a package of solutions to compensate for the United States pulling out.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he is more confident after negotiations with the five major states on Friday.

In a statement, the EU said its priorities over the next few weeks would include "maintaining and deepening economic relations with Iran, the continued sale of Iran's oil and gas, effective banking transactions with Iran" and so on.

No consensus of deadline was reached among the parties. Iran may give more time for all parties to find solutions, according to sources.

Araghchi told reporters that his country is waiting for the proposed compensation package and to see if the solutions work for Iran.

A Western diplomat, on the condition of anonymity, said they don't want Iran to leave the deal, and things needed to be done to support Iran, adding that Friday's meeting was a "good meeting". However, offering solutions would need time.

Diplomats told reporters all sides remain united for saving the deal. Russian Ambassador to the UN in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told Xinhua he is cautiously optimistic about the solutions which could compensate for U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Tehran suggested having a foreign ministers' meeting soon to further push the process forward in discussing solutions for the issue. The proposal was agreed by all sides while no time frame was announced.

A confidential report of UN nuclear agency IAEA on Thursday showed Tehran is still complying with the historic nuclear deal after the United States' withdrawal from the deal.