MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Russia and the European Union have outlined an action plan to resist the United States’ sanctions over Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta published on Tuesday.

"We have outlined a set of measures to be discussed with the Europeans," he said. "Plus, our internal efforts are needed to get prepared to the moment when the Americans proceed to the second phase of re-imposing their extra-territorial sanctions against Iran."

"We must find formulas, means and mechanisms to react to the expected second wave in order to minimize losses from the US sanctions and elaborate measures to continue economic cooperation in a guaranteed and reliable way so that economic operators could see alternatives to yielding to the American dictation," Ryabkov said. "So that they could see that there are possibilities to continue lawful and unrestricted business in Iran and with Iranian partners."

"Our collective will and ability to create conditions for unimpeded exports of Iranian oil to external markets would be of major importance," he stressed.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the deal on Iran’s nuclear program, was signed between Iran and six international mediators (the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, and France) on July 14, 2015. On January 16, 2016, the parties to the deal announced beginning of its implementation. Under the deal, Iran undertakes to curb its nuclear activities and place them under total control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange of abandonment of the sanctions imposed previously by the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the United States over its nuclear program.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s decision to withdraw from the deal, saying it leaves Iran a possibility to create a nuclear bomb bypassing all the restrictions. He warned the United States would reinstate its old anti-Iranian sanctions and would imposed new ones. The first round of sanctions covering Iran’s automotive sector and trade in gold and metals was re-imposed overnight to August 7. Further sanctions are to come into effect from November 4 in a bid to reduce Iran’s oil revenues to zero.

Meanwhile, other signatories to the deal - Russia, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom - have condemned the United States’ move and reiterated their commitment to the JCPOA. The European Union has activated its Blocking Regulation to protect its companies from the effects of the US extra-territorial sanction against Iran.