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Russian top diplomat, UN secretary-general discuss Syria and North Korea

Sergey Lavrov and Antonio Guterres call for the peaceful settlement of crises in Syria and North Korea

MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have noted the lack of alternatives in the peaceful settlement of crises in Syria and regarding North Korea during a meeting in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.

"Regarding the discussion of the thorniest issues on the international agenda, including the situation in Syria and on the Korean Peninsula, the parties stressed the lack of alternatives in the search for political and diplomatic ways to settle the modern crisis situations," the Russian Foreign Ministry noted.

When discussing the reform initiatives forwarded by Guterres, Sergey Lavrov noted "the need to coordinate them in an intergovernmental format and observe the principle of division of powers of the world organization’s main bodies enshrined in the UN Charter."

Lavrov and Guterres have confirmed their adherence to the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program.

"Both sides have confirmed adherence to the task of the unfailing implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to settle the situation on the Iranian nuclear program," the ministry noted.

Last week US President Donald Trump stated that his country would withdraw from the JCPOA if changes were not brought into it. He reiterated that he renewed the lifting of sanctions against Iran, but it was done in order to conclude an agreement with the European allies to fix the disastrous flaws of the Iran nuclear deal, he said.

The JCPOA was signed in Vienna in 2015. Apart from the US and Iran, it involves Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany. The agreement stipulates abandoning of arms-grade plutonium production by Tehran and reduction of its enriched uranium stocks in exchange for the lifting of the international sanctions.