Russia to defend nuclear deal at P5+1 meeting with Tehran - Lavrov

UN, September 20. /TASS/. During the ministerial P5+1 meeting with Iran to take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Russia will defend the principles of the nuclear deal with Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday. The P5+1 group of five permanent UN Security Council members (Russia, the UK, the US, China and France) plus Germany is negotiating with Iran on issues of its nuclear program. "Tomorrow, we are having a ministerial meeting of the P5+1, which drafted the joint action plan together with the Iranians," the minister said. "The meeting will focus on its implementation." "We will be guided by expert estimates from the IAEA, whose director general has repeatedly confirmed that Iran honestly fulfills all its obligations," Lavrov said. "We will defend this document, defend the consensus that the international community had welcomed with relief and which has truly strengthened regional stability and international security in general, we are sure of this," he went on. Lavrov added that Moscow was alarmed by Washington’s unbending stance on the Iranian nuclear issue, confirmed once again by the US president at the 72nd UN General Assembly. "It is particularly worrying that the United States, through it president [Donald] Trump, has once again confirmed its unbending stance and fiercely criticized the joint action plan, which allowed eliminating the Iranian nuclear issue," he told reporters. In his Tuesday’s speech, Trump called 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear issue as "one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into" and "an embarrassment to the United States." He also labeled Iran "an economically depleted rogue state", the oil profits of which "go to fund Hezbollah and other terrorists that kill innocent Moslems and attack their peaceful Arab and Israel neighbors." Read more