Russia says Trump’s ‘aggressive’ stance on Iran doomed to fail

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump chose not to certify a deal on Iran’s nuclear program that there was no place in international diplomacy for aggressive rhetoric, and such methods were doomed to fail.

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Trump’s announcement “once again underlines the inadmissibility of using aggressive and threatening rhetoric in international relations,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement

“It is a hangover from the past, which does not correspond to modern norms of civilized dealings between countries,” the statement said.

“We viewed with regret the decision of the U.S. President not to confirm to Congress that Iran is fulfilling in good faith” the nuclear deal, the statement said.

“We expect that this step will not have a direct effect on the progress of implementation of the agreements, although, clearly, it does not correspond to the spirit and letter,” of the nuclear deal.

Iran was strictly abiding by the terms of the deal, and the agreement was already making a contribution to making the world safer, it added.

“In any event, regardless of the decisions of individual parties to the agreement, it is not possible to return to a situation which previously existed around the Iranian nuclear program,” the statement said. “In particular, there can be no talk of a renewal of sanctions via the U.N. Security Council.”

“Russia remains committed to … (the Iran nuclear deal), wants it to be preserved and will continue to fulfill all its obligations under the deal. We call on all the other participants to do the same,” the ministry said.

(Reporting by Anastasia Teterevleva; writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Peter Graff)
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Makini Brice, Patricia Zengerle, Jonathan Landay, Justin Mitchell, Tim Ahmann and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Andrea Shalal in Berlin, Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow, Parisa Hafezi in Ankara and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Alistair Bell)