Russia's Lavrov slams US for ignoring 'multipolar' world
January 15, 2018
Moscow will work to preserve the Iran nuclear deal despite Donald Trump's recent pledge to change it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his annual news conference.
Russia also hopes that France, Germany and the UK would also resist US pressure to alter the arrangement, Lavrov added. The three European powers, alongside US, Russia, and China, reached the 2015 deal to limit Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions after years of laborious talks.
Read more:What is the Iran nuclear deal?
"Unfortunately, our American colleagues still want to operate only on the basis of dictating policy, issuing ultimatums, they do not want to hear the perspectives of other centers of world politics," Lavrov said on Monday.
Read more: Iran rebuffs Trump's demand for more nuclear negotiation
The US is refusing to "acknowledge the reality of the emerging multi-polar world," he added.
Lavrov's annual conference is designed to give an overview of Russia's diplomatic efforts in the past year and provide a lookahead for 2018.
Iran failure – a message to North Korea?
Several days ago, US President Donald Trump said he would waive sanctions against Tehran only to give US and Europe more time to fix the "terrible flaws" of the Iran arrangement.
However, Iran has been fulfilling its part of the deal, Lavrov said on Monday.
"The US is requiring for Iran to stop developing its ballistic rockets, but that was never a topic of the talks and Iran has never taken up any obligations about it," according to the official.
Read more: Tehran says nuclear deal relies on 'full compliance' from US
The Russian foreign minister said that statements coming from the US also "seriously aggravated" tensions in other parts of the world, including the Korean Peninsula.
The collapse of the Iran deal would also undermine any arrangement with Pyongyang, Lavrov added.
"If they put this agreement aside and tell Iran: you keep within the arranged limits and we'll bring back the sanctions anyway – just put yourself in North Korea's shoes. They have been promised that the sanctions would be removed if they give up their nuclear program."
Read more: North Korea missile launch prompts Hawaii nuclear attack warning test
Trump's policy 'more saturated'
Lavrov also criticized the US over their plans to provide Greece with US natural gas, and other energy initiatives clashing with Russia's interests in Europe.
"When it comes to [Trump] administrations actions, there is a fear of healthy competition," he said.
Commenting on the US actions in Syria, he said that Washington's priorities had not changed under Trump. According to Moscow's standpoint, Washington is focusing on regime change over ending the civil war.
In some areas, US foreign policy even became "more saturated, more assertive" under Donald Trump, "regardless of his positions during the electoral campaign," Lavrov said.
dj/ng (AFP, Reuters, Interfax)