After China, Russia also backs Iran on nuclear deal

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif made the second stop of his international tour in Moscow where he met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday, May 14, and discussed the multilateral nuclear deal with his country which the US recently chose to quit, sending reverberations across the world.

According to Russia's Sputnik International, Lavrov said during his meeting that it is important to prevent new threats to the non-proliferation regime. He said Russia and many other countries had legitimate interests in the Iran deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and they sought a joint defence, the report added.

"We have planned contacts with all parties to this deal, except for the United States which announced the withdrawal from the agreement, in the coming days," Sputnik International quoted Lavrov as saying.

Zarif said although America's withdrawal from the JCPOA left it imbalanced but still Iran would discuss ways of cooperation in a 4+1 format within the deal. It was originally based on a 5+1 cooperation involving the five permanent members of the United Nations and Germany and the European Union (EU). Zarif said Russia's stance encouraged Iran, Sputnik International said.

Zarif's international tour to talks to leaders across the globe in the wake of Trump's decision to quit the "flawed" deal on May 8 started with his visit to Beijing where he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. China also committed itself to multilateralism and international agreements.

Zarif to visit Europe after China and Russia

After Russia, Zarif will be visiting Brussels, the headquarters of the EU where he will meet its foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who in turn will meet the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Great Britain to discuss the deal on Tuesday, May 15.

The other big powers party to the scuttled deal urged the US not to quit it saying it was the best way to prevent the West Asian country from turning into a reckless nuclear weapons power but Trump did not care.