Russia, Iran blame US for regional tensions

MOSCOW, Russia — Moscow and Tehran blame US policies for tensions in the Middle East while Russia says it welcomes French efforts to save the Iran nuclear deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemns Washington’s latest actions in Syria as he visits Moscow for talks with Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov.

US forces over the weekend attacked jihadist leaders in northwestern Syria, in what a battlefield monitor called a missile strike that left at least 40 dead.

“Together with Russia and Turkey, Iran has ensured relative security and calm in Syria,” Zarif tells journalists after talks with Lavrov. “But the United States is creating a new unstable situation east of the Euphrates in Syria including through actions they’ve undertaken in Idlib.”

Moscow has said that the Americans hit the region “without advance notice to Russia or Turkey,” threatening a fragile ceasefire in the province of Idlib. Lavrov also accuses Washington of seeking to “provoke” Tehran after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal last year.

“Our American partners are openly seeking to provoke Iran with the support of some of their regional allies,” he said.

Lavrov commends France for trying to break the impasse and convince the United States to offer Iran some sort of relief from sanctions it has imposed on the Islamic Republic. “We are hoping that this useful initiative of the French president will bear fruit,” he tells reporters. “We wish them luck.”

— AFP