Russia said on Saturday that Western sanctions imposed over the conflict in Ukraine had become a stumbling block for the Iran nuclear deal, Reuters reported.
Iran had announced it had agreed a roadmap with the UN nuclear watchdog to resolve all outstanding questions about the country’s nuclear program by late June, a move seen as a latest push to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with global powers.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov subsequently said the sanctions on Russia had created a “problem” from Moscow’s perspective.
“It would have all been fine, but that avalanche of aggressive sanctions that have erupted from the West – and which I understand has not yet stopped – demand additional understanding by lawyers above all,” Lavrov said, according to Reuters.
He added that Russia wanted a written guarantee from the United States that Russia’s trade, investment and military-technical cooperation with Iran would not be hindered in any way by the sanctions.
“We want an answer – a very clear answer – we need a guarantee that these sanctions will not in any way touch the regime of trade-economic and investment relations which is laid down in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” Lavrov said.
A US State Department spokesperson later said the US sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine are not related to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and should not have any impact on a potential revival of that agreement.
“The new Russia-related sanctions are unrelated to the JCPOA and should not have any impact on its potential implementation,” the spokesperson said, according to Reuters.
“We continue to engage with Russia on a return to full implementation of the JCPOA. Russia shares a common interest in ensuring Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” the spokesperson added.
The comments come amid indications that a deal between Iran and world powers could be reached within days.
On Friday, Russia's chief negotiator in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal said he thought a deal was possible in the middle of next week.
"As far as I know, the Iranians are not ready for direct talks (with the United States)," Mikhail Ulyanov told reporters, according to Reuters.
"We will have a deal maybe in the middle of next week. We are talking about the last efforts before crossing the finish line," he added.
The comments came a day after the US said that an agreement on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is close.
“We are close to a possible deal,” Jalina Porter, the US State Department’s principal deputy spokesperson, told reporters, according to Reuters.
She cautioned, however, that unsolved issues remained and that time was of the essence given the pace of Iran’s nuclear advances.
Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal, in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.