Russia, Tehran to thwart US bid to undermine Iran deal

MOSCOW: Russia and Iran will intensify work with Europe and China in coming days to counter US attempts to undermine the Iran nuclear deal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in remarks published by RIA news agency on Tuesday.

Earlier, Russia said it will do "everything necessary" to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and protect its shared economic interests with Tehran. The Iran nuclear deal is an accord between Iran and the US., Russia, Britain, Germany, France, China and the European Union.

It was an agreement to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country stopping its program to develop more nuclear capability. The United States, however, reinstated some sanctions on Iran Tuesday and has said it will expand the punitive measures in the coming weeks to include tougher ones related to oil production.

The Russian foreign ministry website published a statement stating that Moscow is "deeply disappointed by US steps to reimpose its national sanctions against Iran," before adding, "We will do everything necessary in the interests of preserving and fully implementing the SVPD (Iran nuclear deal)."