WASHINGTON, June 28. /TASS/. Russia is highly concerned by the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] for settling the disputes around Iran’s nuclear problem, the Russian Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday.
He took the floor at a conference the US Department of State timed for the 50th anniversary since the opening of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NTP] for signing.
"A knotty situation has taken shape around the treaty today," Antonov said. "We’re alarmed by the future of JCPOA. We call on all the [signatory] countries to act on their obligations clearly and unambiguously."
"We think it’s a matter of paramount importance to see to it that the JCPOA continues functioning in spite of the current turbulences," he said.
"We think the measures envisioned by the plan, including verification and control, and the information exchange mechanisms are unprecedented in character and give us reliable guarantees for an exceptionally peaceful Iranian nuclear program," Antonov said.
On May 9, US President Donald Trump made public Washington’s decision to pull out of the JCPOA [that went into effect in 2015 after signing by Iran, on the one hand, and the P5+1 format countries - the China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the US.
The deal was endorsed in exchange for a repeal of UN Security Council sanctions and the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US separately.
Trump said on his part he would not confine his steps to the reinstatement of previous sanctions would augment them with new restrictions.
Simultaneously, he claimed Washington was ready to discuss agreement but the conditions it specified were impracticable.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, Germany’s Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have urged all the signatories to the deal to stay committed to all of its provisions.
Along with it, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran urged the EU to guarantee observance of Iran’s interests under the JCPOA in order to keep the agreement afloat. Teheran confirmed its intension simultaneously to remain bound by the format of the agreement and to continue acknowledging its obligations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in connection with Trump’s decision the US withdrawal from the deal meant violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. Moscow would press for preserving the agreement in spite of Washington’s plans to reintroduce sanctions against Teheran.