Lavrov stresses Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy at Pompeo meeting

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a meeting in the US capital, Washington, DC on Tuesday. During the meeting, the two sides discussed a wide range of issues including arms control, trade, domestic affairs, the situation in the Persian Gulf and the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA.

"We talked today about the fact that it's necessary to take some steps to prevent the crisis in the Persian Gulf from aggravating and to take some steps in relations with the problems that have arisen because of the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] on the settlement of the Iranian nuclear program," Lavrov told journalists in a joint press conference with Pompeo after their meeting.

All necessary measures must be taken to preserve the JCPOA and secure Iran's right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, the Russian diplomat added.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and later reimposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement.

In response to the move, Iran began taking measures to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA in a bid to create a balance between its rights and obligations and also to encourage the other parties to live up to their own share of commitments to keep the agreement alive.

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