Moscow says US envoy’s statements on Iran nuclear deal ‘inappropriate’

Moscow considers recent statements by the US ambassador to London on the Iran nuclear deal “mistaken and inappropriate,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. Britain should side with the US rather than Brussels over Iran, Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson said, calling on America’s “closest ally” to reverse its position on the controversial nuclear deal. Writing for The Telegraph, Johnson challenged the UK “to abandon its European neighbors who are still backing a deal to trade with Iran and join forces with America to enforce hard-hitting sanctions,” the newspaper said. According to Zakharova, it is not Tehran that destabilizes the region, “but rather those who too loosely treat international agreements, especially in such areas as nuclear security.” She added that the US is trying to “destabilize the situation inside Iran through illegal economic sanctions and through political pressure,” RIA Novosti reported.