Lavrov:

Scraping JCPOA to jeopardize global security

TEHRAN (defapress) – Breaking up the Iran nuclear deal would jeopardize global security, including the situation on the Korean peninsula, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

News ID: 66570

Date: 20 October 2017 - 14:40

Regarding the Iranian nuclear program, it is impossible to return to the situation which pertained before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was ratified in July 2015 in Vienna, Lavrov said, according to RT.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "performs regular checks and confirms their [Iran’s] strict fulfillment of obligations,” the foreign minister stated.

"Restoring the UN Security Council sanctions [on Iran] is out of the question,” Lavrov stressed.

According to the top Russian official, any changes to the Iran deal would require the approval of all member states, including Iran. The agreement was reached between Tehran and the so-called ‘P5+1’ – five permanent members of the UNSC (China, France, Russia, the UK and US) as well as Germany.

"Any attempts to start such talks [to break up the Iran nuclear deal] may bury this important agreement in the sphere of strategic stability and nuclear non-proliferation,” Lavrov said.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told journalists in Moscow on Friday that Tehran would not withdraw from the nuclear deal before any other party.

"We won’t be the first [to] withdraw from the deal… We will be committed to our obligations. We will not be the first who violate the agreement,” Araghchi, adding that Iran would "react” to those who quit the agreement.