Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of the negative consequences of the US' withdrawal from the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, saying the parties' compliance with the deal would be the "only logical and correct path."

"The Iranian nuclear program still raises concerns. The US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – as a reminder, it was unanimously approved by the UN Security Council in 2015 – is not only destabilizing the region, but also can undermine the nuclear non-proliferation regime," Putin said in an address to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) heads of state council meeting in Bishkek on Friday.

"While presiding in the SCO, we intend to work to ensure that the parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action fulfill their obligations. We consider this to be the only logical and correct path," the Russian leader added.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

However, President Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed harsh sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticisms.

On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran announced that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the deal, adding that it would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water, setting a 60-day deadline for the five remaining parties to the deal to take practical measures towards ensuring its interests in the face of the American sanctions.

In a press release issued at the end of their two-day summit in Bishkek, the SCO heads of state threw their weight behind steadily implementation of the nuclear accord under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that calls on all the parties to fulfill their obligations unfailingly.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the United States’ actions against Iran constitute a blatant attempt to pressure the international community into overlooking the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 in line with Washington’s agenda of “strangling” the Islamic Republic.

“‘Lack of ability to reach an agreement’ is probably the nicest thing that one can say [about US actions against Iran], because there is clearly an attempt to force the whole world to not comply with a UN Security Council resolution in order to achieve the goal of strangling a single country,” Lavrov said at the Primakov Readings forum in Moscow.

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Unilateral US actions liable for regional insecurity: Iran FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday lashed out at the United States for pursuing unilateral measures against Iran, saying such moves are the only reason behind insecurity and tension in the Middle East.

With Pres. @HassanRouhani at #SCO in Kyrgyzstan. Important multilateral dialogue + fruitful bilateral talks incl. w/ President Xi & President Putin.



Unilateral US actions—incl. its #EconomicTerrorism on Iran—are solely responsible for insecurity & renewed tension in our region. — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 14, 2019

"Unilateral US actions—incl. its #EconomicTerrorism on Iran—are solely responsible for insecurity & renewed tension in our region," the top Iranian diplomat said in a post on his Twitter account.

He added that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held "important multilateral dialogue" and "fruitful bilateral talks" with his Chinese and Russian counterparts Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, respectively.

Zarif is accompanying President Rouhani in his visit to Kyrgyzstan to attend the SCO summit.

In a meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Tehran on Monday, Rouhani said European countries must resist the United States’ economic terrorism against the Iranian nation and live up to their obligations as per the JCPOA.

“We expect Europe to stand up to and resist America’s economic terrorism against the Iranian nation and fulfill its obligations in accordance with the JCPOA,” Rouhani told Germany’s top diplomat, adding that following the US withdrawal from the deal, Iran could have done the same on the strength of Article 36 of the JCPOA, but rather decided to remain patient and give other signatories a chance.

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