Iran said it would remain
Russia and China have blamed the United States for Iran’s decision to take its first steps away from the 2015 nuclear deal that President Donald Trump withdrew from one year ago.
In a statement published Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council “issued an order to stop some of Iran’s measures under the JCPOA,” an acronym for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name of the agreement signed by the U. S., Iran, China, the EU, France, Germany, Russia and the U. K. in 2015. The announcement coincided with the anniversary of the U. S. exit from the deal, a move accompanied by stifling sanctions on Iran and an escalation in tensions between the longtime foes.
Washington’s exit, a violation of an accompanying U. N. Security Council resolution, was deeply criticized by the agreement’s remaining parties, who so far continued to support it. Still, as European powers struggled to push forward an effort to uphold the accord in spite of U. S. sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned Wednesday his boss “has repeatedly talked about the consequences of rash steps in relation to Iran, that is, the decision taken by Washington.”
“The situation is serious, it is clearly provoked by previous decisions [of Washington],” Peskov added, as reported by the state-run Tass Russian News Agency. “Putin had said that ill-conceived subjective decisions lead to unjustified pressure on Iran and provoke further undesirable steps, which we are witnessing now.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) pose with other leaders for a group photo at the Second Belt and Road Forum for Econonic Cooperation on April 27 in Beijing, China.
