Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov says will discuss Iran with Shannon "as soon as we meet"
The Russian official added as yet there are no agreements on a date or place of future talks with the US counterpart
MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said during his future contacts with the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon he will discuss the situation around the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.
"We, of course, will have a bilateral discussion of this topic," the high-ranking diplomat told TASS. "As soon as we meet with Shannon, or as soon as we have a contact we shall discuss this topic."
The Russian official added as yet there are no agreements on a date or place of future talks with the US counterpart.
The previous meeting Ryabkov-Shannon was in Helsinki on September 11-12. The parties failed to solve the existing problems in relations between the countries, but, as the Russian Foreign Ministry said then, Moscow and Washington could clear out positions on a few issues.
On July 14, 2015, Iran and six international mediators (the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, and France) reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear program. 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 for abandoned sanctions, imposed previously by the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the United States over the Iranian nuclear program.
On October 13, the US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s new strategy against Teheran. Thus, it says that the United States will seek to offset Iran’s destabilizing influence and will call on the international community to get consolidated for exerting pressure on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC, Iran's most powerful security and military organization). Apart from that, the US blacklisted the IRGC as an organization supporting terrorism. Donald Trump refused to confirm Iran observed the agreement on the nuclear program and promised changes to the document.