TEHRAN - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow makes utmost efforts to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA.

“We condemn the United States’ policy to annihilate the JCPOA and make the most effort to preserve the deal,” IRNA quoted Lavrov as saying in a meeting with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow.

He noted there is still chance to save the JCPOA.

Lavrov added that China and the European signatories to the deal are also making efforts to keep the agreement.

Zarif calls Iran’s relations with Russia ‘strategic’

Zarif said upon arrival in Moscow on Tuesday that Iran’s relations with Russia are “strategic”.

“I stress that Iran-Russia relations are strategic. In the current situation in which there are developments at the international level, it is needed to hold talks between the two countries and also with other friends,” he told reporters.

He also said Iran plans to extend the 20-year agreement with Russia.

NA/PA