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US thinks highly of cooperation with Russia on Iran - US ambassador

Mull expressed confidence that the reached agreement will bring tangible benefits to Russia

WASHINGTON, January 22. /TASS/. The United States highly appreciates cooperation with Russia on the Iranian nuclear issue and expects that it will continue, the US Lead Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Implementation Ambassador Stephen Mull said on Thursday, answering TASS questions at a briefing for foreign journalists in Washington. He said excellent cooperation with Russia in this sphere was a pleasant surprise for himself.

Mull expressed confidence that the reached agreement will bring tangible benefits to Russia. He said great opportunities are opening before Russia and other members of the Joint Commission. One of the commitments within the (nuclear) deal framework promotes cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear energy between the international community and Iran. Russia has previously built the Bushehr nuclear power plant for Iran. According to Mull, now Russia will have additional opportunities in the sphere of ··civil nuclear cooperation.

The ambassador said that the United States would not take part in such work as it is constrained by legal restrictions. But the US will work closely with Russia and other members of the Commission to create such opportunities for others, he said.

According to Mull, the next meeting of the Commission where he participates from the US side, and Russia is represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, is expected to take place before March, most likely - in February.

On 14 July 2015, the P5+1 group of international mediators (five permanent members of UN Security Council - US, UK, Russia, China, France - and Germany) and Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Tehran’s nuclear programme. Iran will not produce weapons-grade plutonium and limit its stockpile of uranium enriched to 3.67% to 300 kilograms for the next 15 years. Tehran also agreed to modernize its nuclear facilities and use them for exclusively peaceful purposes.

Sanctions will be gradually removed from Iran. The arms embargo imposed by UN Security Council will be kept in place for five years, ban for supplying ballistic missile technologies to Iran - for eight years. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will monitor nuclear facilities in Iran for the next 25 years. If any points of the agreement are violated by Iran, sanctions against the country will be renewed.

On July 20, the corresponding resolution on Iran’s nuclear programme agreement was adopted by UN Security Council.

On January 16 international sanctions were lifted from Iran after the International Atomic Energy (IAEA) verified Tehran’s compliance with the nuclear deal.