Press TV - Lawmakers in the upper house of Russia’s parliament are set to call in a statement on their colleagues in US Congress and other Western legislatures to do all in their power to help protect the multilateral Iran deal, which they say is under threat by the US president.

The Russian Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee has prepared a draft statement to remind US congressmen and Western parliamentarians of the importance of the 2015 nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and its significant contribution to the global regime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, RIA Novosti reported.

According to the draft, “the Federation Council addresses the US Congress members with an urgent request to use all available resources and prevent” the collapse of the deal, which it said could lead to an “extremely dangerous situation.”

The Russian senators also called on their US and Western counterparts “to use the influence on political leaders of their countries in order to keep in force the historical deal concerning the Iranian nuclear program.”
“At present time the implementation of this agreement is under threat of complete failure because of US President’s Donald Trump’s declared strategy concerning Iran that stipulates Washington’s unilateral actions that violate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action up to full cancellation of US participation in it,” the draft statement read.
The draft statement will be put to vote at the parliament on Wednesday, according to the report.

The deal was reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries — namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany — in July 2015 and took effect in January 2016.

Trump, who rose to the US presidency a year after the implementation of the deal had begun, has been opposed to it.

On October 13, the US president refused to formally certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement and warned that he might ultimately terminate the deal.



While Trump did not pull Washington out of the JCPOA, he gave Congress 60 days to decide whether to re-impose economic sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the agreement in exchange for Iran applying certain limits to its nuclear program.

Elsewhere in its statement, the Russian Senate warned that the US withdrawal from the pact would very likely prompt Iran to take reciprocal actions and undermine Tehran’s trust in Western powers’ ability to honor agreements.

Trump’s hostile comments against the JCPOA drew strong criticisms from Iran and the six other parties to the accord. Even the staunchest allies of the US, according to Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have voiced their opposition to Trump’s policies against the deal.

In an October 11 interview with the American broadcaster PBS, the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini said Washington’s possible withdrawal from the Iran deal will send a message to the international community that the US is not trustworthy when it comes to deal making.

Mogherini chaired the P5+1 states during the negotiations in the lead-up to the agreement.

She also spoke in defense of the JCPOA following Trump’s mid-October speech, reiterating the European Union’s commitment to the agreement.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last week that Washington’s traditional allies are siding with Tehran over the nuclear deal, stressing that Trump administration’s disregard for international deals has put Washington on a path of isolation.