Russia on Tuesday said that it was “deeply disappointed” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to re-impose unilateral sanctions on Iran.
“We are deeply disappointed by U.S. steps to reimpose its national sanctions against Iran,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said it will do “everything necessary” to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“This is a clear example of Washington violating UN Resolution 2231 (on the Iran deal) and international law,” the statement said. Moscow said the nuclear agreement has “shown its effectiveness”.
It called on the international community “not to allow such significant achievements in multilateral diplomacy to be sacrificed in the name of American aspirations to settle political scores with Iran”.
“As long-term experience has shown, it will not be possible to gain concessions from Iran using pressure,” the statement said.
The U.S. re-imposed a wave of tough, unilateral sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, bringing back into effect harsh penalties lifted by the deal.
The first of two rounds of U.S. sanctions kicked in at 12:01 am (0431 GMT), targeting Iran's access to U.S. banknotes and key industries, including cars and carpets.
Iranians are already seeing the effects of the sanctions, with Iran's rial currency losing around half its value since Mr. Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the nuclear accord.
Mr. Trump's contempt for the nuclear deal dates back to his time as presidential candidate and on May 8, he made good on a pledge to pull America out of the international agreement.