SOCHI, May 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he does not see any expediency for Iran to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA - TASS), because in the end, Iran itself would be blamed for wrecking the deal and not Washington that instigated this process.
"I have repeatedly said in talks with our Iranian partners that, in my view, the most expedient thing for Iran to do is to stay in the treaty whatever happens. Because <…> as soon as Iran responds [to the US exit from the JCPOA] and declares that it is pulling out of the treaty, tomorrow everyone will forget that the US was behind its collapse and Iran will be the one to blame," he told reporters following the talks with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.
Putin warned that he would say "an undiplomatic thing which might hurt the ears of our European friends", lamented the fact that "Americans withdrew from the deal, the treaty is crumbling, the European countries can do nothing to save it and cannot truly work with Iran to compensate the economic losses."
The Russian leader added that he had repeatedly told this to his Iranian colleagues.
"We will see what’s going to happen. Russia is not an emergency rescue brigade, we cannot save everything that is not fully dependent on us. We have played our role and are willing to continue to play this positive role. But it does not depend on us only, it depends on all the partners, all the players, including the US, the European countries and Iran," Putin concluded.