In a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow on Wednesday evening, Zarif hailed as “positive and constructive” the Russian Federation’s stances against Washington’s attempts to put forth issues related to Iran’s internal affairs at a UNSC meeting.
At an emergency session of the UNSC on January 5, held at the request of Washington, nearly all nations voiced concern that the Security Council was not the appropriate venue to discuss the unrest in Iran that broke out in late December.
During the meeting in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was a matter of great significance that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), stressing that Russia insists on the major role of the UN nuclear agency.
Zarif flew to Moscow on Wednesday to hold talks with his Russian counterpart before a trip to Brussels for a meeting with European diplomats on the JCPOA, the nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as E3+3) reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA in July 2015 and implemented it in January 2016.
Under the agreement, certain limits have been put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against Tehran.
In all of its reports since coming into force of the JCPOA, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran as well as the Islamic Republic’s commitment to the nuclear deal.