The signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was not only aimed at improving relations with Western countries, but also helped improve relations with other countries, including Russia and China, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday at a press conference held at ClubHouse social networking site.
"Until July 2015, Moscow had never invited [Al-Quds Force Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Iran's elite military units)] Qasem Soleimani to Russia. The first invitation to Soleimani was a few days after the nuclear deal," he said. According to the diplomat, "this means that the JCPOA solved the problem [of relations] with the countries of the West as much as with the countries of the East."
He added that two years before the nuclear deal, Iran sent China a request for a strategic relationship. "Before 2015, they did not respond to us because they were not allowed to do so by the terms of previous [UN Security Council] resolutions," he said.
The JCPOA was signed by Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the United States, China, Britain, France and Russia) and Germany in 2015. The agreement involved lifting sanctions on Tehran related to its nuclear activities and the adoption of a relevant UN Security Council resolution. In May 2018, the US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS