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Russian FM: Moscow Regrets US Decision to Withdraw From Iran Nuclear Deal

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed on Tuesday its regret over the US decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) known as the Iranian nuclear deal.
Sputnik

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump announced the United States will no longer remain part of the JCPOA and promised to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions against Iran in response to Tehran's development of its nuclear program.

"We are deeply disappointed with US President Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally withdraw from implementation of obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program and to re-impose national US sanctions against Iran," the ministry said in a statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the US decision sharply violated international law.

"There are and there may be no grounds for undermining the JCPOA. The plan fully proved its efficiency. It effectively copes with all the goals set for it. Iran strictly sticks to its commitments, which is regularly confirmed by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. We are fully supporting and welcoming that," the statement said.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry added that Moscow was open for further cooperation with other JCPOA parties and for continuation of dialogue and cooperation with Tehran.

Meanwhile, Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told Sputnik that the US decision was a major setback to the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

"The move has significantly undermined the efforts aimed at strengthening of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. One more time it has been confirmed that Washington uses the statements of the nonproliferation nature in order to achieve its own geopolitical goals, which are often very disputable," Ulyanov said on Tuesday.

Moreover, according to the diplomat, the issues of the North Korean nuclear activities and the Tuesday decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the JCPOA were interconnected, especially taking into account the fact that the US move was made ahead of the meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea.

"That's why, the United States had chosen the path of destroying the existing agreement on Iran and at the same time it had complicated the search of solutions to the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula," Ulyanov said on Tuesday.

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"In this situation Tehran has shown wisdom, refrained from unwise response [to the US move] and announced about the readiness to study the issue of continuation of the nuclear deal without the United States, but with Russia, China and the three European states. That's why the diplomatic efforts will continue in the near future and it is obvious that they would be very intensive," the Russian envoy added.

However, Moscow is ready to cooperate with the United States on the Iran-related issues, but such interaction could be rather complicated because of the US position, Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna said.

"Russia is always ready to work to achieve positive results. At the same time I have a feeling that the contacts with the United States could face a number of problems, because of the US position," the envoy said, answering a question if Russia ready to cooperate with the United States and other partners in order to achieve a new solution to the crisis related to Iran.

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