Russia on Thursday dismissed the threat of US sanctions and attempts to isolate Iran, saying it intended to trade with Tehran once a UN arms embargo expires next month, AFP reports.
The embargo on conventional arms shipments to Iran is set to expire on October 18.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced an executive order and new sanctions against Iran aimed at enforcing United Nations sanctions.
The sanctions put in place a new arms embargo on Iran to replace a UN ban set to expire in October. Administration officials say it is an indefinite ban on weapons sales and allows for sanctions on any international companies or individuals that seek to violate the embargo.
Last month, Washington started the process of restoring all pre-2015 UN sanctions against Iran. The move to activate the “snapback” came after the UN Security Council rejected the US resolution to extend the arms embargo on Iran, which is due to expire in October.
However, the president of the UN Security Council rejected the US demand, saying there was no general agreement among council members.
Speaking alongside visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed those threats as illegal.
"Russia will in no way build its policies on the basis of these aggressive illegal demands which have no legal force," Lavrov said.
He expressed hope that other countries cooperating with Iran would follow suit.
"The fact that the United States threatened to introduce sanctions on all those who will contradict the US interpretation of the current situation once again confirms that Washington wants to behave like a bull in a china shop," Lavrov added, according to AFP.
"In my opinion, the current (US) administration has lost diplomatic skills almost beyond retrieve," Lavrov continued.
He added however that Russia and European countries continued talks with Washington on the subject.
