TEHRAN - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that U.S. unilateral sanctions on Iran are absolutely illegal.

“Problems in Iran are very serious, to a large extent because of the U.S. sanctions that were imposed on that country absolutely illegally, because the Americans withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and are seeking to make others implement it,” Lavrov said at a session of the Mediterranean Dialogue conference in Rome.

The Russian foreign minister noted that it is not the first time that the United States was using such a scheme, adding, “If the U.S. wants to stifle Iran economically and instigate people’s discontent, we see such a scheme being used in Venezuela. It is a pattern.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump quit the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions on Iran as part of the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. 

Iran has said it is adopted “maximum resistance” against maximum pressure.

Addressing a ceremony marking International Day for the People with Disability on Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani highlighted once again the key role of the people’s maximum resistance against the U.S. maximum pressure in thwarting plots aimed at bringing the Iranians to their knees.

Analysts and think tanks say sanctions have hurt the Iranian economy but have failed to achieve what officials in Washington had expected.
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said last week that maximum pressure is a “wrong policy” and the U.S. must stop it.

“There has always been political will to solve issues and there is no dead end… The issue is that policy of maximum pressure is wrong and must be changed. We have not closed the door, however, the United States must come to the understanding that this policy is not right,” he Larijani told a press conference.

He noted that current U.S. officials should be “wise” enough to learn from past experiences.

The Trump administration was suffering from the illusion that Iran would surrender in the face of biting sanctions. However, Iran has started to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA – the official name for the nuclear deal - in retaliation to the sanctions and a failure by the Europeans to honor their obligations under the pact. 

MJ/PA