Moscow: Lavrov, Amir Abdullahian discuss Ukraine, nuclear deal

According to Fars News Agency’s International Group, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a telephone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian about Ukraine and the nuclear deal.

In an interview with Amir Abdullahian, Lavrov stressed the need for the agreement to create equal rights for all parties to co-operate in all areas.

“The sanctions imposed on Russia and the sanctions that will be imposed have nothing to do with the Iran nuclear deal and the prospect of a return to it,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CBS News yesterday.

“These things are completely different and in no way related to each other, so I think they are irrelevant,” he added.

“It is a matter of returning to the agreement, it is clear that withdrawing from this agreement was one of the worst mistakes made in recent years,” Blinken said. “This brought out the whole of Iran’s nuclear program, which he had put in a box.”

“It is also in Russia’s interest that, regardless of everything, Iran is not able to build a nuclear weapon or that it is not capable of producing a nuclear weapon in a very, very short period of time,” he said.

“This interest will remain, no matter where we are in our relations with Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine,” he added.

The US State Department also said yesterday that the new sanctions against Russia had nothing to do with the nuclear deal with Iran and should not affect it.

“Russia also has a public interest in ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” the State Department added.

According to Fars, the eighth round of Vienna talks to lift US sanctions against Iran will begin on Tuesday, February 7, after an 11-day break for consultations with their capitals in the presence of Iran and the P5 + 1 (Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China) resumed in the Austrian capital and has since been held at various levels and formats. Of course, Ali Bagheri, the chief negotiator of the Islamic Republic of Iran, left for Tehran on Wednesday night, March 25, within the framework of the usual traffic during the talks, but the Iranian delegation was in Vienna and continued the consultations. Bagheri returned to Vienna on Monday, March 30, and talks are still ongoing in Vienna.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told a weekly news conference on Monday that the draft agreement had been prepared and that we were now at a point where there was no ambiguity for Washington and Europe about our red lines. We certainly do not cross our red lines.

End of message.