The US State Department has reassured the world community that it will not seek to replace Russian oil supplies with Iranian exports.
Earlier, the White House proposed to resume negotiations with Iran on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. As a result, some experts jumped to conclusions that this step would be another attempt to find an alternative to Russian oil. In response to speculation, State Department spokesperson Ned Price stressed that talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal had nothing to do with the recent ban on imports of Russian energy products. “Whether or not there will be the JCPOA, our position on the ban on Iranian oil will not change. We will not replace Russian oil with Iranian oil. It will not be considered,” Price said.
As previously reported, the West allegedly assumes that a nuclear deal with Iran could be concluded without the participation of Russia. This stems from a sweeping set of security demands that Moscow has made of Washington. The Kremlin needs a written guarantee that anti-Russian sanctions will in no way affect its trade, investment, and military-technical cooperation with Iran. Like the United States, the country is one of the parties to the JCPOA. Thus, it has an interest in ensuring that Tehran has no opportunity to acquire a nuclear weapon.
