The Russian side is convinced that there is no reasonable alternative to the JCPOA, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, April 12, in an interview with the Iranian news agency IRNA.
“As the President has repeatedly stated [России] Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the most effective way to preserve the agreements of 2015 is through the strict fulfillment by the signatory countries of their obligations. <...> For our part, we are trying to help Washington and Tehran find the right solution, ”the Foreign Minister said.
According to the minister, the launch of substantive negotiations on this issue on the Vienna platform with the participation of Iranian and American representatives inspires some hope, in particular, that the violations of the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolution 2231 previously committed by the United States will be corrected. According to the Russian side, this will create the necessary conditions for Iran to return to the fulfillment of the requirements of the “nuclear deal”, both in terms of transparency and the reconfiguration of the Iranian nuclear program, the head of the department added.
Commenting on Washington’s sanctions against Iran, Lavrov pointed to the inadmissibility of blackmail and zero-sum geopolitical games and dividing the world into the “elite” and other countries.
“The Americans, with the support of their European allies, are taking aggressive steps to dismantle the UN-centered international legal architecture and replace it with the so-called ‘rule-based order’. <...> In this context, I will also note the phenomenon of unprecedented complex pressure exerted by the West on states pursuing an independent nationally oriented foreign and domestic policy. <...> Of course, all this is unacceptable neither for Russia, nor for Iran, nor for most countries of the world, “he stressed.
In this regard, the Russian Foreign Minister called on his Iranian colleagues to strengthen bilateral cooperation at the UN and other multilateral platforms. He also drew attention to the key role of the March 2011 Treaty on the Foundations of Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Russia and Iran.
“The development of ties with Iran is one of the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy. <...> Largely due to the consistent implementation of the provisions of the treaty, interaction between our countries has reached an unprecedented high level. Today it is intense and intense. Ties are being strengthened in the political, trade and economic, scientific and technical, cultural, humanitarian and other fields, ”the minister said.
Among the priority areas of cooperation, the head of the department named the construction and operation of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, as well as the development of the North-South international transport corridor in the region.
On April 7, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran is ready to conduct negotiations in the 4 + 1 format, that is, as part of Russia, Germany, France and China, provided that the United States shows honesty in its intentions.
On the part of Iran, Rouhani noted, one can observe a full readiness to restore the nuclear deal and return its former obligations in exchange for lifting the sanctions.
On April 2, it was reported that until all sanctions were lifted, the Iranian delegation did not intend to conduct direct or indirect negotiations with Washington representatives during the meeting of the JCPOA commission in Vienna. Tehran rejects proposals for a phased lifting of sanctions.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015, it assumed the lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for limiting the country’s nuclear program. However, in May 2018, the US pulled out of the deal and reinstated tough sanctions against Tehran. Iran, in turn, announced in 2019 a phased reduction of its obligations under the agreement.