“At present, there are no restrictions in the UN Security Council on technical-military cooperation with Iran. Our government has a full right to interact in this direction,” Lavrov told Sputnik in an interview published on Tuesday.

On October 18, a UN Security Council arms embargo against Tehran expired, despite US attempts to keep the ban in place, under the terms of UNSC Resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major world countries.

“I repeat: during the implementation of military technology cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, while undoubtedly has the right to guarantee its defense capability, strictly adheres to its international obligations and follows the priority of maintaining stability and security in the region,” the chief Russian diplomat added.

Russia was a staunch supporter of Iran during the Iran-US showdown at the UN Security Council in September when the Trump administration sought to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran by triggering what came to be known as the snapback process, a legal mechanism built into the JCPOA which allows a “JCPOA participant state” to restore all UN sanctions, including the arms embargo, on Iran in case it didn’t uphold its obligations under the nuclear deal. Most of the Security Council members said the US had no legal right to trigger the mechanism because it withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018.

But despite global opposition, the US triggered the process with no success because almost all members of the UN Security Council refused to acknowledge the legality of the US move.