U.S rejects as irrelevant Russia’s demand to link imposed sanctions with Iran deal
Mar 8, 2022: According to a report by AFP, U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed as “irrelevant” Russian demands for guarantees that new sanctions linked to Ukraine will not affect Moscow’s rights under a reworked Iran nuclear deal.
As the parties to the Iran agreement, which the US abandoned in 2018, approach a new accord, Blinken rejected fresh demands voiced Saturday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine “have nothing to do with the Iran nuclear deal,”
They “just are not in any way linked together, so I think that’s irrelevant,” he said, speaking from Moldova, a small country on Ukraine’s southwest border.
Blinken added that it was not only in America’s interest but Russia’s as well that Iran not be able “to have a nuclear weapon or the capacity to produce a weapon on very, very short order.”
But reservations by Russia, coming amid the intense crisis over Ukraine, threaten hopes that an Iran agreement could be wrapped up quickly.
Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog had announced a tentative agreement on an approach for resolving issues crucial to reviving the country’s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.
The IAEA Chief, Rafael Grossi said in Vienna that while the UN agency and Iran had yet to settle “a number of important matters,” they had now “decided to try a practical, pragmatic approach” to overcome them.
Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow, itself slapped with severe sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, needed guarantees from Washington before backing the nuclear deal.
He said Russia wanted written guarantees that Ukraine-related sanctions “will not in any way harm our rights to free, fully fledged trade and economic and investment cooperation, military-technical cooperation with Iran.”
Moscow is expected to play a role in implementing any fresh deal with Iran, for example by receiving shipments of enriched uranium from Iran.
Iranian international relations analyst Fayaz Zahed said the government needed to be very careful about Moscow’s possibly shifting interests.
“Now that Russia is under sanctions, it is perhaps no longer interested in resolving the Iran nuclear issue, a position that could be very damaging,” he said.
Stay tuned to BaaghiTV for latest news and Updates!
Ukraine’s military parades captured Russian soldiers on media
China’s FM expresses hope that China and India will be partners for mutual success
