Russia on Thursday criticized the U.S. President’s decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and asserted that Washington is responsible for Tehran’s non-compliance with the international treaty.
This accusation came just hours after the U.K., France, and Germany (E3) informed the UN Security Council that they had initiated the snapback mechanism to reimpose severe restrictions within 30 days, following Iran’s non-compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“The United States abandoned JCPOA, and since then the situation started [to] deteriorate,” stated Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s UN Ambassador, on Thursday.
“We should not confuse the real source of the problem that happened in 2018,” he added, referring to Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the JCPOA over Iran’s alleged violation of the agreement.
Though Trump has repeatedly claimed Tehran was violating the agreement, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as the other signatories to the JCPOA, stated there was no evidence that Iran had begun such activities until 2019 – a stance it continues to hold.
“We all know that the measures taken by Iran in terms of uranium enrichment were taken in response to the U.S. withdrawal from JCPOA,” the Russian diplomat said Thursday. “And these measures can easily be reviewed.”
Russia and China on Thursday introduced a draft UNSC resolution in an attempt to extend the timeline of certain 2015 provisions by six months, thereby delaying when sanctions can be placed on Tehran.
But given Iran’s refusal to comply when a similar extension was proposed in July by E3 negotiators, it seems unlikely that the U.S., France, or the U.K., as permanent members of the UNSC, will agree to advance the action.
The U.S. has long called on the other signatories to reinforce measures for the violations after it lost its ability to do so by withdrawing from the agreement in 2018.
However, despite clear evidence that Iran has in recent years violated the JCPOA, including by accumulating up to 45 times the permitted amount of enriched uranium, operating advanced centrifuges, and denying the IAEA access to its nuclear sites, the Russian official claimed the “move by E3 cannot and should not entail any legal or procedural effect.”
“It’s a mere escalatory step,” he continued. “Western countries…don’t care about diplomacy, and they care only about, blackmail and, threats, and coercion of independent countries.”
A UK official confirmed Thursday morning that attempts to negotiate with Iran have been ongoing for years, including in 2022 when a proposal was agreed to by all JCPOA participants, including Russia and China, but which Iran rejected.
The official also said that there had been “very intense diplomacy” over the last “12 months, 6 months, 6 weeks,” but which Russia appeared to dismiss on Thursday.
“The world is at a crossroads,” Polyanskiy said. “It’s quite clear. One option is peace, diplomacy and goodwill.
“Another option is…diplomacy at the barrel of the gun…extortion and blackmail,” he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to Digital’s questions.