Russia and US will continue to cooperate on Iran despite Ukraine invasion

State Department spokesman Ned Price has said that the United States and Russia will continue to work together to prevent Iran from further developing nuclear weapons. Despite the fact that the invasion of Ukraine made Russia a "pariah on the world stage". 

Price explained that senior US officials would only meet with their Russian counterparts to discuss issues 'fundamental' to their 'national security interest'.  He added that 'the fact that Russia has invaded Ukraine should not give Iran the green light to develop a nuclear weapon'. 

Another key issue on which the US will need to hold talks with Russia is negotiations to return to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.  

These statements by the State Department spokesman come after new negotiations to return to the 2015 nuclear pact took place. According to Reuters sources, "negotiators reportedly made significant progress in the last week to revive the nuclear deal".  

A senior US official, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Reuters that they expected the chief Iranian negotiator to return to Vienna - where the talks are taking place - with a "positive view" on the deal. Despite this, the official stressed that there were still difficult issues on the table. 

The main objective of these negotiations would be to return to the original 2015 agreement. These negotiations would involve the total lifting of sanctions on Iran, in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear actions. 

The US official made it clear to Reuters that, if an agreement is reached, it would resemble the one signed in 2015. However, they were open to making some modifications to account for the sanctions placed on Iran by Donald Trump in 2018, and the nuclear advances made by Tehran. 

The UK agency's source declined to discuss the points of disagreement on the table. But he did comment that no agreement had been reached on negotiations between Tehran and Washington regarding the release of four US citizens held in Iran. 

Despite this week's progress, Iran blamed the situation in Ukraine on the US and NATO. Following Moscow's recognition of the independence of the Dombass area, Iran called for dialogue. However, when Russia began its attack on the Ukrainian people, Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzade said in a statement that it was 'the provocative actions of NATO, supported by the US' that had 'complicated the situation in the region'.

Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra