Russia, Germany say US withdrawal from Iran deal has increased tensions in region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Russia and Germany have warned that the United States’ withdrawal from a nuclear deal signed with Iran and world powers has lead to further tensions in the Middle East.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed Moscow’s serious concerns about the American decision to leave the nuclear pact, noting the US had violated a United Nations Security Council resolution.

TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as saying the US withdrawal is “a significant violation” of the UN security resolution 2231 which was unanimously adopted by the Security Council to ensure the full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The JCPOA was signed between Iran, the US, the United Kingdom, 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.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, pointed to the escalation in violence between Israel and Iran in Syria as a direct result of Washington’s decision.

Late on Wednesday night, the Israeli Air Force launched a massive attack on Iranian military targets in Syria, destroying over 50 bases, according to Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Merkel said her administration was “following the events between Iran and Israel, bearing in mind that Israel’s security” is important to Germany.

Before announcing America’s pull-out from the deal on May 8, President Donald Trump often criticized the agreement and threatened to scrap it unless new, more stringent restrictions were imposed on Iran by May 12.

“I am announcing today [May 8] that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” he stated at the White House.

“It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement,” Trump continued. “The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen.”

In his White House address, the US President said Iran was a state-sponsor of terrorism, pointing to Iranian involvement in wars across the Middle East, mainly in Syria and Yemen.

Iran also has a significant influence in Iraq through the Shia-dominated Hashd al-Shaabi militias who have been accused of human rights violations across the country.