Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks to reporters on Sat. evening after a trilateral meeting with Russia’s Lavrov and Turkey’s Çavuşoğlu during his short stay in Moscow, adding that necessary coordination has been made in regard to Iran and Russia’s joint countermeasures to Trump’s anti-JCPOA moves.
The meeting was held against the backdrop of the looming May 12 deadline when US President Trump will decide whether to extend waivers of economic sanctions on Iran, a US commitment under the nuclear agreement. Trump has been aggressively railing against the JCPOA, and during his recent press conference with French President Macron, he threatened Tehran with “bigger problems than they ever had before” should it resume its nuclear program if Washington decided to withdraw from the deal.
Zarif then pointed to the trilateral meeting with his Russian and Turkish counterparts, adding “the meeting was held to consolidate the fact the Astana talks have been the only process that could achieve relative success in settling the Syrian crisis.”
He also noted that development of economic cooperation was discussed with the Russian and Turkish side.
“It was a very short and intensive trip, but we managed to make a lot of progress about the Syrian situation, as well as bilateral and multilateral relations,” Zarif added.
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