TEHRAN – In a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, President Hassan Rouhani highlighted the need to counter the United States’ unilateralism and its illegal attempt to extend arms embargo on Iran.

According to UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal –JCPOA- the arms embargo against Iran ends in October.

Rouhani also called for deepening ties in various areas and praised Russia for supporting the nuclear deal and countering the U.S. unilateralism.

For his part, Putin said that Russia supports efforts to preserve the JCPOA.

“As has been the case during the past five years, we continue to support this international agreement, and insist on its implementation and preservation,” Putin said.

The United States has stepped up efforts for an indefinite extension of UN arms embargo on Iran. It has even submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council for the purpose. 

The Trump administration has made such an action despite the fact that Donald Trump officially withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal in May 2018 and the U.S. is no longer a party to the agreement.

The remaining parties to the JCPOA have expressed opposition to the U.S. for trying to extend arms sanctions on Iran.

Analysts believe that Russia and China will most likely veto the U.S. plan to extend arms embargo.

Rouhani also called for continuations of Iran-Russia-Turkey cooperation on Syria within the Astana format.

In line with their security cooperation, Iran, Turkey, and Russia - three power brokers in Syria - launched the Astana peace talks on the Syrian crisis. The talks were launched in January 2017 with the aim of putting an end to the Syrian conflict.

Kazakhstan has hosted multiple rounds of talks on Syria since January 2017 most of which involved delegations from the Syrian government and opposition.

NA/PA