Russia on Thursday struck out against President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and argued Washington is to blame for Tehran's non-compliance with the international treaty.
The accusation came just hours after the U.K., France and Germany (E3) alerted the UN Security Council that they had initiated the snapback mechanism to reimpose severe UN sanctions on Iran within 30-days, following its non-compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA.)
"The United States abandoned JCPOA, and since then the situation started [to] deteriorate," Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's UN Ambassador, said Thursday.
"We should not confuse the real source of the problem that happened in 2018," he added in reference to Trump's decision to drop the U.S. from the JCPOA over Iran's alleged violation of the agreement.
UK, FRANCE, GERMANY TRIGGER UN SANCTIONS ON IRAN OVER 'SIGNIFICANT' NUCLEAR PROGRAM DEFIANCE
Though Trump has repeatedly claimed Tehran was violating the agreement, the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as the other signatories on the JCPOA said there was no evidence that Iran had begun expanding its nuclear program until 2019 - a stance it continues to hold.
"We all know that the measures that were taken by Iran in terms of uranium enrichment, they were taken in response to the U.S. withdrawal from JCPOA," the Russian diplomat said Thursday. "And these measures can easily be reviewed."
Russia and China on Thursday introduced a draft UNSC resolution in an attempt to extend the timeline of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement by six months and therefore extend when sanctions can be put on Tehran.
But given Iran's refusal to comply when a similar extension was floated in July by E3 negotiators, it seems unlikely that the U.S., France or the U.K., as permanent members of the UNSC, will agree to push the action forward.
IRAN SEEKS CHINA, RUSSIA HELP TO STALL UN SANCTIONS AHEAD OF NUCLEAR TALKS WITH EUROPEANS
The U.S. has long called on the other signatories to reinforce snapback sanctions on Iran for the violations after it lost its ability to do so by bowing out of the agreement in 2018.
But despite clear evidence that Iran has in recent years violated the JCPOA, including by amassing up to 45 times the amount of enriched uranium that it is permitted to have, operating advanced centrifuges and denying the IAEA access to its nuclear sites, the Russian official claimed the "move by E3 cannot and should not entail any legal or procedural effect."
"It's a mere escalatory step," he continued. "Western countries…don't care about diplomacy, and they care only about, blackmail and, threats, and coercion of independent countries."
A UK official confirmed Thursday morning that attempts to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran have been ongoing for years, including in 2022 when a proposal was agreed to by all JCPOA participants, including Russia and China, but which Iran rejected.
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The official also said that there had been "very intense diplomacy" over the last "12 months, 6 months, 6 weeks," but which Russia appeared to dismiss on Thursday.
"The world is at a crossroads," Polyanskiy said. "It's quite clear. One option is peace, diplomacy and goodwill.
"Another option is…diplomacy at the barrel of the gun…extortion and blackmail," he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's questions.
