Lavrov: US Pulling out of JCPOA Deprives World of Key Nonproliferation Regime

Russia has warned of the consequences of a possible US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, saying such a move will deprive the world of one of the key non-proliferation regimes.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the remarks during a press conference with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Thursday.

“If the US, as President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated, announces withdrawal from this agreement, then of course all of us, the international community, will lose one of the most important tools contributing to ensuring the non-proliferation regime for weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

 Trump has been a vociferous critic of the Iran nuclear accord, which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama. He has called the agreement the “worst deal ever” and even threatened to tear it up.

Back in January, Trump said he was extending the sanctions relief on Iran for the last time, giving the European signatories a May 12 deadline to fix what he claimed “flaws” in the agreement or he would refuse to waive those bans.

Iran insists there is no way it will renegotiate the nuclear pact, which is officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Lavrov commented on a recent televised show by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which he presented what he called documents on Iran’s “secret” nuclear work.

The top Russian diplomat said the Israeli data related to “past activities” that had already been taken into account by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He also urged Tel Aviv to to immediately provide its purported documents on Iran to the UN nuclear agency.

“If Israel or anyone else received documents which allegedly prove Iran still has plans to develop nuclear weapons, then these documents should be given to the IAEA, which is responsible for implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action immediately,” Lavrov said.

UN chief warns against scrapping landmark Iran nuclear deal

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has praised the Iran nuclear deal as “an important diplomatic victory” and warned against destroying the seven-party agreement without any “alternative.”

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, the UN chief said, “I believe the JCPOA (the Iran nuclear deal) was an important diplomatic victory and I think it will be important to preserve it.”

“If one day there is a better agreement to replace it, it is fine, but we should not scrap it unless we have a good alternative,” Guterres said

The UN chief underlined the need for “a meaningful dialog” with regard to some countries’ concerns about Iran’s role in the region, but noted that the issue must be viewed separately from Tehran’s nuclear deal.

“I understand the concerns of some countries in relation to the Iranian influence in other countries of the region. So I think we should separate things,” he said.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the US, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against it.

US President Donald Trump has described the JCPOA, which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama, as “the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into,” a characterization he often used during his presidential campaign, and threatened to tear it up.

Trump has threatened to pull out of the JCPOA unless Congress and America’s European allies help “fix” it by May 12.

Guterres’ remark came two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a hawkish address, accusing Iran of continuing to hide and expand what he called its nuclear weapons program.

He presented what he alleged was “new and conclusive proof” of violations, and claimed Iran had lied about its capabilities at the time of the agreement’s signing.

A day after Netanyahu’s allegation, the UN nuclear agency reiterated in a statement that it had “no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009,” citing its assessments from 2015.

Following Netanyahu’s allegations, the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also said any claims on the Iranian nuclear program should solely be assessed by the IAEA.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also reaffirmed his country’s support for the landmark nuclear deal, noting that the JCPOA was “based on tough verification.”

The Islamic Republic has said it will under no circumstances re-negotiate the deal and is fully ready to respond to a possible US pullout.

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