Iranian Foreign Minister Set To Visit Russia On Tuesday

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is scheduled to travel to the Russian capital Moscow on Tuesday, the ministry spokesman announced on Monday.

In his weekly media briefing on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh announced the visit, repeating that the nuclear talks hinge on decisions by Washington.
“We are now waiting for the American response”, he said, adding that “consultations continue at various levels, and the foreign ministers of the countries are in constant contact with each other, and the senior negotiators are also in touch with each other”.

After 11 months of negotiations in Vienna, talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran paused last week after Russia demanded exemptions from Ukraine sanction in its dealings with Iran.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on March 5 that Moscow was looking for guarantees that any sanctions against Russia over Ukraine would not affect “the regime of trade-economic and investment ties embedded in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [the 2015 deal] on the Iranian nuclear program.”

Tehran, however, which has tacitly supported the Ukraine invasion, has not criticized Russia's demand.

Some media and politicians in Iran continue criticizing Russia for “obstructing” the nuclear talks in Vienna while hardline media defend Russia's aggression and tend to minimize the impact of Moscow's demand for exemption from Ukraine sanctions on Iran's nuclear deal with the West.