DOHA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Qatar has called on the international community to prevent nuclear arms race to maintain stability and peace in the Middle East region, state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Thursday.

Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement released on Wednesday evening, said that it is following up closely on the latest development of the Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA), after the U.S. decision to withdraw from the deal.

Qatar called on all parties to implement self-restraint and deal wisely with the ongoing situation that should be solved through dialogue, the statement added.

The statement noted that not being party to this deal, Qatar and the other Gulf countries would still be directly affected by any repercussions of the decisions by parties involved, due to geographical location, political and historical relations between Gulf countries and the deal's parties.

Qatar also stressed the importance of collective action by the international community to secure the Middle East region to be a nuclear-weapon-free Zone.

The JCPOA was reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015 between Iran, the European Union, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council including China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as Germany.

On May 8, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and the initiation of new sanctions on the Iranian regime.

After Trump's announcement, the Iranian president said that he had ordered the country's atomic industry to be ready to restart industrial uranium enrichment.

Meanwhile, Russia announced in a statement that it would not abandon the JCPOA.