RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26. /TASS/. Iran stays committed to the Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Additional Protocol to it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday at a BRICS ministerial meeting.

"The situation around Iran causes serious concern," he noted. "The American colleagues not have just withdrawn from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program that was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, they forbid all the rest to implement the United Nations Security Council’s legally binding resolution under the threat of unilateral sanctions."

"We call on our Iranian colleagues to show restraint. We state that they are staying committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA and the Additional Protocol to it," Lavrov stressed. "At the same time, it is counterproductive to demand that Iran unilaterally implement its liabilities under the JCPOA while the other signatories, first of all our Western colleagues, don’t do it."

Russia calls on the European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal to "realize its responsibility for keeping the nuclear deal in place, for the implementation of their own commitments concerning the development of economic ties with Iran," he pointed out.

The top diplomat recalled that when the JCPOA had been signed, the entire global community stressed its importance not only in terms of settling one particular problem around Iran’s nuclear program but also in terms of strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime. "By breaking this deal the United States is now seeking to, it will deliver a serious blow on the nuclear non-proliferation regime in general," Lavrov added.