Russia needs written guarantees from U.S. that sanctions won't hit cooperation with Iran if JCPOA reinstated - Lavrov

MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - Russia has demanded written guarantees from the United States that Western sanctions will not hinder full-scale trade-economic and investment cooperation between Moscow and Tehran if the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is reinstated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"And it would've been fine, but the avalanche of aggressive sanctions which has started falling down from the West and which, as far as I understand, has not yet been finished, certainly needs to be reviewed, primarily by law experts," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.

"And we'd like to receive an answer, a very clear answer; we need guarantees that these very sanctions won't affect the regime of trade-economic and investment ties embedded in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program," he said.

"We have asked our American counterparts, as it's they who are running things here, that we be given written guarantees, at least at the secretary of state level, that the current process launched by the United States won't infringe on our rights to maintain free and full-scale trade-economic, investment, and military-technical interaction with the Islamic Republic of Iran," Lavrov said.

Speaking of the situation at the negotiations on reinstating the Iran nuclear deal in Vienna, Lavrov said, "They've passed the lion's share of the way in quantitative terms, and arithmetically, an overwhelming number of issues have been agreed upon."

"True, some subjects still remain on which our Iranian counterparts would like to have more clarity. And we believe this is a legitimate demand," he said.

"On our part, if Iran agrees, these documents can already start being adopted. But some problems have arisen lately as concerns the Russian Federation's interests," Lavrov said.

"Agreements on reinstating the JCPOA imply a set of reciprocal obligations, such as Iran's obligations as to the volume and parameters of its civilian nuclear program, and obligations of the other participants to make sure that projects for the development of civilian nuclear energy in full compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in full compliance with and under control of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], with support from Russia, China, and other countries, will be implemented," he said.

"In addition, some other participants, primarily the Western ones, have committed to reinstate the regime that was introduced in 2015 and did not envision any obstacles to trade-economic and investment relations with Iran, or obstacles to pursuing military-technical cooperation projects with it," he said.