Russia, Iran work to keep deal
MOSCOW, May 10, (Agencies): Moscow and Tehran will continue to cooperate on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear programme after the US pulled out of the deal, Russia’s foreign ministry said Thursday.
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Tehran where the two sides “agreed to continue close coordination in this area,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The Russian side highlighted its commitment to preserving the agreement,” the statement added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday expressed his “deep concern” over Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 deal.
Earlier in the day Ryabkov said Russia’s “European partners” should also work to keep the deal together, in comments reported by news agencies.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday called on countries that oversaw the deal to “develop steps that would preserve this document that is important for regional stability”.
“We agree to make the appropriate contacts with our German colleagues,” he said in a joint press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.
The Kremlin meanwhile accused Trump of “veiled protectionism” by pulling out of the deal.
“We are talking about veiled protectionism, we are talking about steps that of course absolutely contradict the norms and aims of the World Trade Organization,” presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“It goes without saying this will require intense work, including by lawyers,” he added at a regular briefing.
European countries are powerless to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran after the United States pulled out, the deputy head of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Thursday.
Britain, France and Germany said they remained committed to the deal despite Tuesday’s decision by Trump to withdraw.
But Brigadier General Hossein Salami said Europe “cannot act independently
over the nuclear deal,” the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Tehran would remain in the 2015 agreement, though Europe had only a “limited opportunity” to preserve it.
On Wednesday Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cast doubt on the ability of the European signatories to guarantee Tehran’s interests, adding: “I do not trust these countries either.”
Khamenei has the final say on all state matters and commands the loyalty of the IRGC, which has huge political and economic influence domestically.
Salami said Iran’s enemies were not seeking military confrontation. “They want to pressure our country by economic isolation ... Resistance is the only way to confront these enemies, not diplomacy,” Fars quoted him as saying.