Representatives of Iran, Russia and China -- Ali Bagheri Kani (1st L), Wang Qun (C-R) and Mikhail Ulyanov (1st R) meet before the official start of the 8th round of anti-Iran sanctions removal talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna on December 27, 2021.

Iranian, Russian and Chinese delegates taking part in the Vienna talks on the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran have met in the Austrian capital ahead of the eighth round of negotiations.

Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador to international organizations in the Austrian capital, who also heads his country’s delegation in the Vienna talks, said in a tweet that the three countries’ delegations met Monday morning before the eighth round of talks, which is expected to get underway at the afternoon.

He added that the meeting was aimed at comparing notes before the official start of the fresh round of the sanctions removal talks between Iran and the five remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was abandoned by the US three years after its conclusion.

Chief negotiators representing Iran, China and Russia -- Ali Bagheri Kani, Wang Qun and Ulyanov -- attended the meeting.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said earlier on Monday that the issues of guarantees and verification of sanctions removal are the main points of the new discussions.

Amir-Abdollahian noted that the talks will be based on a new, joint and acceptable document reached by the sides earlier this month.

During the previous round, the new Iranian administration presented two separate proposals on the removal of US sanctions and Iran’s return to its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that Moscow believes that the JCPOA is still topical and has no other alternatives.

This deal has not lost its topicality, and all UN Security Council member nations, including, by the way, the United States, must observe it. We insist on that, she said.

As for any possible alternatives to the restoration of the JCPOA, the Russian side insists that there is no alternative to the JCPOA, she added.

Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA -- Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China -- resumed talks in Vienna on November 29 after a five-month hiatus, marking the first round of negotiations under President Ebrahim Raeisi’s administration and the seventh overall.

Iran and the P4+1 group of countries sat down for talks in the Austrian capital on December 9 after being paused on December 3, when the participants returned to their capitals for additional consultations on the two draft proposals that Tehran had put forward.