Lavrov: Russia expects US to abandon Europe AMD plans after Iran deal
Moscow hopes the US will fulfill its promise not to develop a system of missile defense in Europe after a deal with Iran has been reached, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Vienna on Tuesday.
Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES on Iran nuclear deal
“We all probably remember that in April 2009 in Prague [US] President [Barack] Obama said that if the Iran nuclear program issue is sorted out, then the task of creating the European segment of the missile defense system will disappear,” Lavrov said at press conference in Vienna.
He said that Tehran and the P5+1 powers (the United States, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) have agreed on “joint all-inclusive plan of actions, which consists of the main document and five very detailed technical appendices.”
A draft of UN Security Council resolution has also been agreed upon which all participants of the talks will present as co-authors in New York in the next few days, Lavrov said, adding that the resolution will be considered by the UN SC and voted on. "We believe, it will be unanimously approved," he added.
READ MORE: Highlights of nuclear deal reached by Iran and 6 major powers
The IAEA will have new serious checking functions with the participation of the Russian side to control the fulfillment of the deal, said Lavrov.
A special commission will be created for this purpose which will include all the participants of the talks – P5+1 powers, the EU and Iran. This commission will review “all problems and concerns of the sides over how the other parties to the agreement fulfill their liabilities.”
Russia will take an active part in practical activities which are aimed at realization of the nuclear agreement with Tehran reached on Tuesday, Lavrov said, which concerns two issues directly mentioned in the documents.
They are “the removal of low-enriched uranium to Russia in exchange for the delivery of natural uranium to Iran, and … the re-purposing of the Fordow former enrichment facility into an isotope production facility for medicinal and industrial purposes."
Lavrov reminded that it was Russia that suggested the concepts of consistency and mutuality that later played an important role in all stages of work on the Iranian nuclear deal.
#IranDeal reached -oil prices, ruble drop http://t.co/jO8ZojPg5Npic.twitter.com/QLC080LG38
— RT (@RT_com) July 14, 2015
These concepts made sure that every step from Iran towards the demands of the global community was accompanied by counter steps from P5+1 and from UN on weakening the sanction burden towards the eventual lifting of the sanctions.
Lavrov revealed that the arms embargo towards Iran will last for five years, but weapons supplies will be possible if Tehran passes verification procedures via the UNSC.
“The compromise has been reached between Iranians and Western colleagues - which we [Russia] and China supported taking into account that Iran agreed on it – five years, but during this period arms supplies to Iran will be possible if they pass the corresponding procedure of verification via the UN Security Council.”
Just because the nuclear deal with Iran has been inked, there is no guarantee Washington will change its stance on the AMD, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, political analyst from Tehran University, told RT.
“The Americans from the very beginning were looking to Russia when they pursued the policy” of installing an anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe, Marandi stressed.
“In the case of Iran, it was never pursuing any weapon that would be of a threat to Europe. And the Americans knew this, but they were using Iran as an excuse to try to Isolate Russia,” he said.
Marandi stressed that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was justified in saying that Washington has no excuse now and “should change its policy, but I have a feeling that it’s not going to happen any time soon.”
