By Giwa SHILE
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Alexander Lavrentiev arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on Monday to express Russia’s support for Iran as the U.S. fresh sanctions against the Islamic republic take effect.
In a meeting with Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, Lavrentiev said that he had travelled to Tehran to “voice Moscow’s unequivocal support for Iran against the fresh round of U.S. sanctions.
He also called for concerted action by the international community to stand against U.S. unilateralism, and he denounced the use of economic and trade tools for imposing a country’s political will on others.
For his part, Shamkhani praised the interaction among Tehran, Moscow and Damascus in the fight against terrorism in Syria.
All the U.S. sanctions against Iran that had been removed under the 2105 Iranian nuclear deal were returned by the U.S. on Friday and came into force on Monday.
The U.S. embargo targets many of the country’s “critical sectors” like energy, shipping, shipbuilding, and finance.
The U.S. re-introduced sanctions against Iranian oil exports on Monday.
However, the country gave some of its closest allies exemptions that will allow Tehran’s biggest customers, mostly in Asia, to still buy crude for now.
