Europe won't allow US to withdraw from JCPOA

Tensions in relations between the US and Iran are growing. Vestnik Kavkaza asked Stanislav Ivanov, leading researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, how much will American sanctions damage Iran and how will Tehran respond to Washington.

According to Stanislav Ivanov, Iran is not interested in further aggravation of relations with America, its tasks today focus on completely different issues. "The main line of Tehran's policy is to get out of sanctions and gradually restore its economic and financial potential," he said.

At the same time, he stressed that right now both sides of the Iran-US conflict are conducting a hybrid, political and diplomatic fight. "Iran has adapted to sanctions: there were four packages of UN sanctions, many unilateral Western, American and Japanese sanctions, which is why it is not catastrophic for Iran," he noted.

In addition, he discussed likelihood of America's withdrawal from the JCPOA. "The US initiated to either withdraw from the JCPOA, or make certain amendments to it, because they believe that this agreement gives more advantages to Iran than to other parties," the expert said.

"I think it's unlikely that the US will withdraw from the JCPOA, because they need to coordinate their position with European partners, and they don't want that. European countries are buying Iranian gas and oil, supply their products to Iran. I don't think that Washington will be able to convince its Western partners," he concluded.