Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif, Moscow, June 16, 2020

Dear friends,

It is nice to resume physical contacts, even at a distance.

I believe it is a very timely meeting for us to take stock of what is going on around the JCPOA. The situation is a cause of concern. There are some developments taking place right now in Vienna. There are ideas our Western friends are floating in New York. And we will be very firmly opposing any attempts to use this situation in order to manipulate the Security Council and to promote an anti-Iranian agenda. We will certainly raise this point in all relevant international multilateral formats.

And of course, we can also exchange views on promoting further activities of the Astana format on Syria. And, certainly, as a follow-up to the phone conversations between our presidents in February and in April, we can exchange views on how we are doing on the bilateral agenda.

So, once again, welcome.