Russia is ready to help create conditions and support a direct dialogue between Washington and Tehran if both countries are interested, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the meeting with MGIMO students and teachers.
"We are still ready to support a direct dialogue between the US and Iran. We are ready to help create conditions for such a dialogue, if both countries are interested in it," Lavrov said.
The Russian Foreign Minister noted that the US behavior in the situation with Iran and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program is similar to the behavior of a bull in a china shop.
"The US, having withdrawn from the JCPOA, now wants to use the complex legal mechanism provided for in the agreement, according to which it is possible to return the sanctions against Iran imposed by the UN and lifted in 2015 after the conclusion of the JCPOA," he said. "It's unimaginable. First, there is no reason to restore the sanctions, since Iran is complying with all its obligations. Second, the US has already lost its rights in the JCPOA by leaving the agreement. I understand, of course, that the symbol of the Republican party is an elephant, but the world is not a china shop." (In Russian the saying "like a bull in a china shop" is used with an "elephant")
The Minister recalled that the United States, already outside the framework of the JCPOA, tried to push through a decision that would extend the arms embargo against Iran, which expires in October. "They claimed that Iran, by trading weapons, would destabilize the region. The resolution received only two votes, the rest were either against or abstained, now the US is trying to get the return of UN Security Council sanctions," Lavrov said.
The future of the Iran nuclear deal was in question after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States on May 8, 2018, and the introduction of sanctions by Washington against Tehran in the field of oil exports. According to the Iranian side, the other participants, primarily the Europeans, do not fully adhere to their obligations in the economic part of the agreement, so the deal in its current form does not make sense.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS