(Reuters) – Russia on Tuesday joined its ally Iran in rejecting Western efforts to restrain Iran despite the failure of a 2015 deal that was intended to limit Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief .
After a meeting between the respective deputy foreign ministers in Tehran, Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow and Tehran were unanimous in believing that the failure to implement the deal stemmed from the “erroneous policy of ‘maximum pressure ‘ that is pursued by the United States and those who feel the same way.”.
Then-US President Donald Trump dropped out of the deal known as the JCPOA in 2018, with economic sanctions remaining in place, and Iran’s relations with the West have since deteriorated, as it accelerated its nuclear program.
But Russia, which is a signatory to the agreement along with the US, China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, has deepened ties with Iran since its invasion of Ukraine.
The war, which Russia calls a “special military operation,” has pushed its relations with the West to the lowest level in decades.
Sources told Reuters in June that European diplomats had informed Iran they intended to join the US in enforcing sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile program, which expire in October under the nuclear deal.
They gave three reasons: Russia’s use of Iranian drones against Ukraine; the possibility that Iran could transfer ballistic missiles to Russia; and depriving Iran of the benefits of the nuclear deal it violated after the US pulled out.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met with Iranian counterparts Ali Bagheri Kani and Reza Najafi.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the meeting had highlighted “the unacceptableness of attempts by the West to impose a number of new plans and approaches to solving problems related to the JCPOA, which harm the legitimate and mutually beneficial Russo-Iranian cooperation in various fields.” “.
It said there was still “no reasonable alternative” to implementing the JCPOA, as approved by the UN Security Council.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
