Russia: Iran was provoked to retreat from nuclear deal

Russia yesterday said that Iran was provoked to roll back some of the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal “due to pressure from the United States (US).”

Iran yesterday announced that it was receding on some of its obligations under the deal and threatened “more action if Tehran was not shielded from US sanctions”.

“President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken of the consequences of unthought-out steps regarding Iran and by that I mean the decision taken by Washington [to quit the deal],” Reuters quoted the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. “Now we are seeing those consequences are starting to happen,” he said in a press conference held in the Russian capital of Moscow.

Speaking to reporters, Peskov stressed that Russia would “work with the European partners to maintain the continuity of the Iranian nuclear deal.”

READ: UN chief hopes Iran nuclear deal can be saved

On his part, the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif – who was attending the press conference – said he could guarantee the nuclear deal’s survival if the agreement’s European signatories fulfilled their obligations.

“Russia and China fulfilled their obligations but other parties, including the Europeans, have not been honouring their commitments,” Zarif pointed out, adding that Tehran’s retreat from certain aspects of the deal was “legal and could be reversed”.

“There’s now a short window of time when other signatories of the pact, and in particular European countries, can honour the obligations,” the Iranian official noted, stressing that he would guarantee the continued survival of the agreement “if the deal commitments are honoured.”

In 2015, Iran signed a long-term deal on its nuclear programme with a group of the world powers, including the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany. Last year, Washington unilaterally withdrew from what it said was a “defective” deal and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

READ: France suggests Europe will reimpose sanctions if Iran reneges on deal