TEHRAN – Russia says it expects the United States to fully rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, formally referred to as the JCPOA, without preconditions.

“No one has asked the United States to act as a world policeman, and the attempts to do that look anachronistic today, as does the reckless and arrogant policy of resorting to unilateral pressure,” Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said, addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

“The most logical thing for the U.S. to do would be to fully rejoin the previous agreements within the JCPOA, without preconditions, of course,” he said.

The U.S., under President Donald Trump, withdrew from the multilateral agreement on May 8, 2018 and imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran. It also pressured other countries to follow suit, threatening them with secondary sanctions if they cooperate with Iran.

Iran remained fully compliant with its obligations for a year after the U.S. withdrawal, but as other parties failed to meet their end of the bargain, it decided to gradually reduce its nuclear commitments according to the JCPOA. However, Tehran has voiced readiness to return to complying with the deal as soon as others do.

“We expect that the new U.S. administration will realize that and take the right steps in the near future. The entire world will benefit from it,” Polyansky pointed out.

“Over the past six months, we have seen how fragile the balance of interests that the nuclear deal is based on is,” Polyansky said. 

Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has voiced support for the JCPOA, saying his administration will rejoin the deal. Biden served as vice president in the Barack Obama administration, under which the nuclear deal was reached.

Biden has said he hopes to return the U.S. to the deal, but he has also hinted he would like to expand it.

MH/PA