Russia FM: Trade With Iran Will Continue Irrespective of US Demands

Says Russia will work out ways to trade independent of US sanctions

In comments made to the Interfax News Agency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that new methods of trading with Iran would need to be found following the new rounds of US sanctions against them.

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov

Lavrov said that such a system would be put in place, and that the methods had been worked on since the 2015 P5+1 nuclear deal was reached. He said that Russia will independently trade with Iran irrespective of US “whims” about whether they want to allow trade or not.

The P5+1 deal was intended to allow Iran access to international trade. After the US withdraw from the pact earlier this year, they’ve threatened to punish any nations and companies that don’t comply with the US sanctions forbidding that trade.

Russia is still a signatory to the deal, as are China, Germany, France, and Britain. All these nations are expected to continue to trade with Iran, at least to some extent. Multiple nations are in the process of implementing legal avenues for continuing such trade without fearing US punishment.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.