Russia backs Iran’s position, advises US against pursuing ‘altered plan’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Tehran’s position on the nuclear deal is “absolutely legitimate,” calling on the US to return to the original accord instead of pushing for an “altered plan.”
“Now the point is that the Americans are trying to make an altered plan a subject matter of a new agreement while the Iranians insist on the accords approved in 2015. I believe that Iran’s position is absolutely legitimate,” Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as saying on Friday.
“The Americans withdrew from the plan, which all the other parties and the Americans themselves once approved. Considering that Washington tried to dismantle it, Washington should simply recall its position and return to the original accords. That is the problem now,” he said.
He restated that Russia is insisting on resuming the deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – in its original form as approved by the UN Security Council without any amendments or exemptions.
After a five-month hiatus, the talks once again resumed in Vienna on Thursday, with Iran’s lead negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani meeting the European Union’s deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora and Russia’s top negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov.
Ulyanov said in a post on his Twitter account that he had “frank, pragmatic and constructive” negotiations with the head of the Iranian delegation to resolve the last outstanding issues.
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