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Monday 23 December 2019 - 18:22

Russian Foreign Minister Slams US Rude, Nonsensical Demands from Iran

Story Code : 834430
Russian Foreign Minister Slams US Rude, Nonsensical Demands from Iran
"Iran cannot be treated in a way Washington is trying to do," Sergei Lavrov said in an interview aired by Russia’s television Channel One on Sunday.

As examples of the US’s unjust behavior, he cited its departure last year from a multilateral 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and its reimposition of the sanctions that had been relieved by the accord.

Washington ditched the agreement last May. It then resumed its bans and has been trying to pressure other countries to fall into line. The violations came while the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has been ratified in the form of a United Nations Security Council resolution.

Lavrov said the US was "not just flagrantly violating the United Nations Charter, refusing to implement the binding United Nations Security Council resolution, but rudely addressing demands to Iran, a country with the millennia-old civilization, traditions, and immense self-esteem."

He described the United States’ demands addressed to Iran as "nonsense."

"As a matter of fact, the Americans said they would not implement this resolution while Iran must continue to implement what it is to do under this resolution," Lavrov noted.

The agreement lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, which for its part, changed some aspects of its nuclear energy program. The JCPOA has obliged all its signatories to engage in free trade with the Islamic Republic in return for the nuclear obligations that Tehran voluntarily committed itself to.

However, the Americans "demand all others who have been granted the right to freely trade with Iran in exchange for what it did in terms of curtailing its nuclear program stop trading with Iran, while Iran must continue to implement what it undertook," the top diplomat complained.

The US has intensified its adversarial measures against Iran under President Donald Trump as part of his trademark “maximum pressure” campaign.
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