U.S. attempts to extend arms embargo on Iran unlawful - Lavrov
MOSCOW. June 16 (Interfax) - The attempts by the United States to extend the weapons embargo on Iran are illegitimate and have no prospects, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"The fact that the U.S. is seeking to block the implementation by the other signatories to the JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program] of their obligations to the Islamic Republic of Iran and simultaneously wants to punish the Islamic Republic of Iran by railroading through illegitimate and absolutely unlawful initiatives, concerning, among other things, the weapons embargo - I believe this is a futile attempt," Lavrov said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"It [the attempt] has no prospects from the standpoint of international law, and we are using all opportunities provided for by international law to make sure that justice triumphs," he said.
When the U.S. president decided to withdraw from the Iran deal, the U.S. lost "all opportunities and rights which follow from the bona fide implementation of the JCPOA by all participants in the plan and which are stipulated in Resolution 2231," Lavrov said.
"The entire system of obligations of both the Islamic Republic of Iran and the other parties to the JCPOA is an integral whole. This is a package that cannot be broken only in one of its parts, with the Islamic Republic of Iran's obligations preserved," Lavrov said, adding that Russia will do all it can to preserve the JCPOA.
Washington "has no right to punish Iran by profiting from the Security Council's authority and, in fact, manipulating the Security Council and, to some extent, the UN Secretariat," he said.