Iran’s nuclear deal can not continue if the United States withdraws, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
US President Donald Trump urged a week ago of European allies and Congress to work with him to fix the “catastrophic flaws” of the 2015 agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, or Washington would withdraw. Trump wants to strengthen the deal by a separate agreement within 120 days.
“This agreement can not be implemented if a participant withdraws from it unilaterally,” Lavrov told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York. Will collapse and there will be no agreement then.”
Lavrov believes the United States “will try to convince European countries to take the same position as Washington.”
Most UN sanctions and Western sanctions against Iran were lifted two years ago under a nuclear deal backed by a UN Security Council resolution.
“It can not continue in the form of renegotiation, especially with regard to the demands of the United States,” Lavrov said. It will not be acceptable to Iran and that is clear now and I think the Europeans understand this danger now.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the deal was non-renegotiable.
