Russia slams US for backing Netanyahu’s anti-Iran claims

Russia and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will never jump to conclusions about Netanyahu’s claims on Iran’s nuclear program, as the documents should be examined closely, he said.

US statesmen’s remarks reveal that some of them have managed to analyze as many as 100,000 documents in a short period of time and take anti-Iran stance accordingly, Ulyanov said.

All the 100,000 documents should be studies initially to see to what extent they are reliable, he said, questioning validity of the documents.

On Monday night, Netanyahu claimed that Israel has obtained 'Iran’s secret files' which reveal it is still pursuing nuclear weapons program secretly even after the JCPOA came into effect.

Netanyahu made the allegations at a time when the IAEA has on several occasions verified peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program under the JCPOA, to which Iran has remained committed since it went into force.

Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi dismissed Netanyahu’s claims that Iran is still pursuing covert nuclear program, saying, 'Whatever we witnessed was a childish game played repeatedly in the past years.”

That Netanyahu is playing such a childish game ten days before Trump's announcement of his decision over JCPOA reveals that this is a pre-planned show to influence the US president’s decision, Araqchi said, noting that they are all out to kill the landmark deal.

US President Donald Trump is slated to make his decision over sanctions waivers on May 12 and announce staying in or leaving the deal. He has already warned that if JCPOA is not amended, the US will quit the deal.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has already compared Netanyahu to a liar shepherd who wants to tell lies over Iran’s nuclear drive.

On Sunday, British prime minister’s office reiterated in a statement that UK, French and German leaders have agreed that JCPOA is still the best option which should be preserved.

The JCPOA stands for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name of the agreement reached between Iran and six world major powers in 2015 to give Tehran sanctions relief in return for scaling back its nuclear program.
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