Talks to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Monday, two parties to the talks said. "Usually it isn’t popular to engage in serious business b/w the Catholic Christmas and the New Year," Mikhail Ulyanov, Russias top envoy to the talks, tweeted on Thursday. "In this particular case this is an indication that all negotiators don’t want to waste time and aim at speediest restoration of #JCPOA," he added, using the acronym for the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The European Unions foreign service said the meeting would be attended by representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran. "Participants will continue the discussions on the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides," the External Action Services statement said. The original deal, struck in 2015, offered Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. The agreement unraveled after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and re-imposed crippling sanctions on Iran. Since then, Iran has resumed its nuclear program, enriching uranium and operating centrifuges beyond the limits set under the deal. Israel has been critical of the attempts to reach a new deal with Iran, saying the international community is giving in to “nuclear blackmail.” It says any new agreement must make improvements over the original deal, and that the talks must be accompanied by a “credible” threat by the US to use military force against Iran if necessary.