The Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Saturday that by imposing fresh sanctions on Iran the United States has dealt a significant blow to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"The new wave of anti-Iran sanctions announced by Washington is aimed at undermining the consistent efforts of the participants of the JCPOA to preserve this agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. The United States is inflicting yet another powerful blow to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which, as they hypocritically say, needs to be strengthened, while in fact leading the matter to its collapse,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry has also emphasized that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed Iran's compliance with the deal, which proves the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
"JCPOA fully justifies itself. It has proved to be effective. The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] regularly confirms that Iran strictly complies with its obligations. We support the agency’s consistent and professional efforts in this direction. The measures of verification and control provided for in the Action Plan are applied in full. This in itself is a reliable evidence of the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program."
The statement published on the ministry's website continued: "We will do everything necessary in the interests of preserving and expanding international trade, economic and financial cooperation with Iran despite the sanctions of the United States. The new destructive actions of the United States are strongly condemned."
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The Foreign Ministry further stated that it rejected any unilateral sanctions bypassing the decisions of the UN Security Council, which affect the interests of third countries, as in the case of the United States and Iran.
“If Washington, as it declares, is really interested in negotiations with Tehran, then the policy of sanctions pressure in order to reduce the economic and defense potential of Iran, as well as to undermine the internal political situation, should be immediately revised. Many years of experience show that it will be impossible to reach concessions from Iran using pressure methods,” the statement continued.
On May 8, President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing the US from the JCPOA, commonly known as Iran nuclear deal, and promised to reinstate sanctions, lifted under the agreement, as well as to introduce new restrictions.
The landmark agreement was signed after years of diplomatic work in 2015 in Vienna by Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, which included, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany and envisaged gradual sanctions relief from the Islamic Republic in exchange for Tehran maintaining the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
