On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized the US’ steps targeting to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). According to the Russian Minister, the US proved its willingness to reach a compromise with Iran for the latter’s return to the deal.
Touching upon the issue at a meeting of the Moscow-based think tank Valdai Discussion Club, Lavrov stated his country’s support for the dialogue process for Iran’s return to the nuclear deal. However, the restoration of the JCPOA should be materialized without any modification, the Russian Foreign Minister added.
According to Lavrov, the West tries to revive the deal by introducing an additional restriction on the Iranian missile programs in a way that remains outside of the framework that the UN Security Council drew. Also, Lavrov stated that the acceptable way in restoring the deal is doing it in its original form and then seek revisions in the future, based on the bilateral interests.
Russian Foreign Minister also announced that an informal roadmap had been proposed by his government. However, he refrained from giving any details about the roadmap, saying: “The work is ongoing and better not to make it public.” But, Lavrov remarked that “French colleagues are helping to formulate the content of these steps, especially the first step, which should launch the process of implementing the JCPOA in full.”
In May 2018, the US, under the Trump administration, unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and revived sanctions, including oil exports, economy, and finance, against Iran. This move prevented the implementation of the JCPOA. US President Joe Biden, on the other hand, had pledged the restoration of the agreement during his election campaign.
