U.S. complaints over Iran nuclear deal's implementation 'irrelevant': Russia

Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, Mikhail Ulyanov, on Thursday said that the U.S. complaints over how the nuclear deal on Iran is being implemented are irrelevant.

The remark comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a National Security Council-led interagency review of the JCPOA to evaluate Iran's compliance with the deal, with the US State Secretary Rex Tillerson stating that the nuclear deal "fails to achieve the objective of non-nuclear Iran."

Tehran, in its turn, stressed that the deal was an international treaty and cannot be changed, adding that Iran was fulfilling its obligations under the JCPOA.

"If the deal does not work, then specific complaints should be made regarding its functioning. The Americans cannot do this. The IAEA, an independent participant in this process, confirms that the Iranians are implementing everything. Therefore, any claims are irrelevant here, it seems to me," Sputnik news agency quoted Ulyanov as saying.

He noted that it was necessary for Tillerson to separate the notions of terrorism and nuclear deal, which have nothing in common.

The JCPOA was signed by Iran and the P5+1 countries - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States plus Germany in July 2015, ensuring the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program in return for the gradual lifting of sanctions against Tehran. The deal came into force on January 16, 2016, after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran was ready to implement the program to reduce its nuclear potential.

However, the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran in February 2017 after a medium-range ballistic missile test was carried out by Tehran in late January.