TEHRAN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said the Friday meeting of the joint commission of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal in the Austrian capital of Vienna was "a step forward", official IRNA news agency reported.

Abbas Araqchi, head of the Iranian delegation, made the remarks after his meeting with the representatives from the remaining signatories of the deal over its implementation.

Before the meeting, a number of European countries expressed in a joint statement their support for the efforts to implement the European payment channel, known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), IRNA said.

INSTEX was designed to secure trade with Iran and skirt U.S. anti-Iran sanctions after Washington pulled out of the 2015 landmark nuke deal in May 2018.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the Vienna meeting on the Iranian nuclear deal was the "last chance" to save the accord after the U.S. exit.