MOSCOW. August 1 (Interfax) - Washington's decision to renew the sanctions waivers for the Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Arak, and Bushehr will make their implementation easier but will not resolve the problem in general, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"Let's wait and see what happens, because you never know with the Americans what's going to happen next and you always have to look at the factual aspect of the matter," Ryabkov told Interfax.
"The objective now is to practically safeguard the said projects from negative effects of American extraterritorial sanctions. If the waivers are renewed, this would make this problem easier to resolve to some degree, but this would not actually resolve it and would not fully eliminate it, because anything is still possible," Ryabkov said.
The U.S. may cancel these waivers at any moment, he said.
"We are working on a long-term basis and are determined to fully abide by our obligations under the JCPOA and our bilateral contractual obligations with Iran, particularly those on Bushehr. Therefore, as before, the problem of protecting this entire practical activity from the destructive influence of American politics is full-blown, and we will keep dealing with it, no matter what Washington decides tomorrow," Ryabkov said.
The participants in a JCPOA Joint Commission meeting on July 28 agreed at Russia's insistence that the implementation of most of these projects lies within the scope of collective responsibility of the remaining JCPOA signatories (China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom), Ryabkov said.
The Washington Post had said earlier citing its sources that, while the U.S. waivers for cooperation with Iran on these projects were to expire on August 1, President Donald Trump decided to renew these waivers for Russia and some European countries to cooperate on the three projects under the sanctions. The decision is expected to be formally announced later this week.