France, Britain and Germany said on Tuesday that they triggered the dispute mechanism of the JCPOA, the strongest step they have taken so far to enforce the nuclear accord.
The European powers said they had taken the step to avoid a crisis over nuclear proliferation adding that they concerned about an escalation in the Middle East.
In a statement, they said they still want the deal to succeed, and were not joining a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran by the United States, which abandoned the deal in 2018 and has reimposed sanctions.
Mikhail Ulyanov said in an interview with IRNA that Russia conveyed its objection to activate the dispute settlement mechanism to the three European countries.
"We have alerted Western partners to such a step, noting the negative consequences of this mechanism," the Permanent Representative of Russia to the IAEA said.
Responding to a question about how Iran might react to the procedure initiated by European members, he said: it was not right to advise Iranian partners on such a sensitive issue, especially through the media.
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