Visiting UAE, Lavrov says debate on who has to return to compliance first can go on forever
Russia urged the US and Iran on Tuesday to agree on the “simultaneous steps” they could take in order to resolve the ongoing deadlock over the 2015 nuclear deal.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed it was “perfectly possible” to work out a staged pathway that would allow Washington to rejoin the accord.
“If we deliberate on which side should be first to return to compliance, then this bargaining could go on forever,” he said at a press conference with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan.
In 2018, former President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal, reimposing sanctions on Tehran, which began to scale down its commitments under the accord.
Current US President Joe Biden has indicated his desire to return to the deal, but the US and Iran are at odds as to what has to happen first — sanctions relief or reversal of Iran’s violations.
Lavrov’s Emirati counterpart, in his turn, touched upon other aspects of regional politics, warning that US sanctions on Syria under the Caesar Act made it more complicated to realign Iran-backed Damascus with the Arab League.
“To keep the Caesar Act as it is today makes this path very difficult, not only for us as a nation, but also for the private sector,” he said.
In late 2018, the UAE and Bahrain reopened their diplomatic missions in Syria as they sought to prompt Damascus to downgrade its ties with Iran, seen by both countries as a threat.
Source : i24 News
