President Joe Biden’s administration is “utterly senseless” to seek any new restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program or military apparatus, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“The way we see it, it is utterly senseless to demand Iran should accept new conditions within the framework of the nuclear deal or assume new obligations apart from the JCPOA,” Lavrov said, using the acronym for the 2015 nuclear deal, according to state media.
Those remarks were just one in a series of comments aligning Russia with Tehran’s negotiating position, with the opening round of talks over the U.S. and Iranian return to compliance underway in Vienna. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team assesses that Russia and China share the Western interest in constraining Iran’s nuclear program, but U.S. intelligence officials also perceive Russian officials as eager to damage most U.S. policy initiatives.
“Moscow will continue to employ a variety of tactics this year meant to undermine US influence, develop new international norms and partnerships, divide Western countries and weaken Western alliances, and demonstrate Russia’s ability to shape global events as a major player in a new multipolar international order,” a new report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence states.
IRAN TO ENRICH URANIUM AT HIGHEST-EVER LEVELS AFTER NATANZ ATTACK
Lavrov portrayed Biden’s current maintenance of the sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump as a self-serving policy by the U.S. government.
“The main problem, as we see it, is Washington’s persistent unwillingness to abandon its flawed course towards upholding the U.S.’s global dominance,” he told Iranian media, claiming the United States and European government had embarked upon a “neocolonial” foreign policy. “This is, of course, unacceptable for both Russia and Iran, as well as most countries of the world.”
Iranian officials want Biden to lift all sanctions imposed by Trump — not only the nuclear sanctions renewed when he exited the 2015 deal but also the terrorism-related sanctions.
U.S. officials so far have signaled they will refuse to do so. Russia’s position is “clear and consistent with our Iranian friends’ approach,” Lavrov stated.
“All unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington in direct violation of the JCPOA must, of course, be lifted,” he said. “This topic is being discussed in Vienna.”
American negotiators in Vienna, however, have emphasized that Iran’s demand is too expansive because Tehran is trying to pressure Biden to lift terrorism sanctions, in addition to the nuclear-related measures.
“Under the deal, the U.S. retains the right to impose sanctions for nonnuclear reasons, whether it’s terrorism or human rights violations or interference with our elections, etc.,” a senior State Department official told reporters on Friday. “Our view is that all sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA and inconsistent with the benefits that Iran expects from the JCPOA, we are prepared to lift those if Iran comes back into compliance with its obligations.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Lavrov condemned the European Union’s decision this week to sanction Iranian security officials involved in a violent crackdown on protests that took place in 2019.
“If the decision was made deliberately, in the midst of the ongoing talks in Vienna on ways to rescue the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, then this is not a disaster,” he said. “It is the kind of mistake that, as you know, is worse than a crime.”
