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Obama needs nuclear deal with Iran to pressurize Russia — Russian lawmaker

The deal with Iran to will be an example of how to convince the European partners of the need to exert pressure on Russia, a Russian lawmaker says
Russian lower chamber of parliament, the State Duma  TASS/Valeriy Sharifulin
Russian lower chamber of parliament, the State Duma
© TASS/Valeriy Sharifulin

MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. The United States needs the ratification of the deal with Iran by Congress to set an example of pressure to Europeans that can be applied to Russia removing a major player not only on the political stage but also in the oil market, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Leonid Kalashnikov told Russia’s Izvestia daily following speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry at a Reuters Newsmaker event on Tuesday.

"The statements of the US Department of State should be viewed in two ways: on the one hand, we all remember the test tubes the high-ranking officials were brandishing when they had to justify the intervention in Iraq. On the other hand, the US Secretary of State mentioned Washington’s hidden dream, which is now implemented in the United States with the help of putting pressure on its European partners — that is, isolating and pressurizing Russia. The deal with Iran to break this 30-year impasse will be an example of how to convince the European partners [of the need] to exert pressure on Russia under the principle ‘look at what we did with Iran, why can’t we do the same thing with Russia’ — for example, by banning to purchase petroleum products in Russia," Kalashnikov said.

According to the US Secretary of State, Washington will not only lose the support of the European Union in the Ukrainian issue and the extension of the anti-Russian sanctions, if Congress doesn’t endorse the nuclear deal with Iran. "That is a recipe, very quickly ... for the American dollar to cease to be the reserve currency of the world," Kerry said. The US Congress is determine the fate of the deal, which a group a six world powers, including Russia, was seeking for more than 11 years.