Putin expected to discuss Iran nuclear deal with Rouhani in Ankara

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani to discuss the Iran nuclear deal opposed by the United States, the Russian President’s aide said on Monday.

According to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s adviser, the Russian President will address the Iranian nuclear pact when he meets with Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a trilateral meeting in Ankara on April 4.

“We expect that Putin and Rouhani will discuss the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the light of signals from the Americans about their intention to revise the terms of the deal,” state media TASS quoted Ushakov as saying.

The JCPOA was signed between Iran and six other nations, including the United Kingdom, the US, Germany, China, Russia, and France in 2015.

Iran signed the deal promising to halt its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

US President Donald Trump has often criticized the 2015 deal and has threatened to scrap the current agreement unless new, more stringent restrictions were imposed on Iran by May 12.

Ushakov added that Moscow “sees its key task in preserving the efficiency of this joint plan of action,” noting the nuclear agreement was “especially important.”

He claimed Tehran was “fully implementing liabilities [according to the nuclear deal], which [are] regularly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

The recent sacking of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who was replaced with CIA Director Mike Pompeo is considered by some as the first step toward Washington’s possible revision of the nuclear pact.

Pompeo is known to have a much stricter position against Tehran and its nuclear capabilities than Tillerson did.

Last month, following Trump’s decision, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US was “determined to leave the nuclear deal, and changes at the State Department were made with that goal in mind.”