Lavrov: US counting on total confrontation with Iran

The United States was counting on a total confrontation with Tehran ran by leaving the Iran nuclear deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"I remember the apocalyptic predictions of the 1980s about a 'nuclear winter. Fortunately, it did not come to pass, although the 'Arab Spring' came, which, through a series of tragic events, also exacerbated the problem of weapons of mass destruction," Lavrov said, speaking at the Primakov Readings.

"I am referring to the withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program with the view of organizing a total confrontation with Iran, and many staged situations involving the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government aimed at changing the regime in Damascus," Sputnik cited the minister as saying.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced that his country would exit the 2015 JCPOA, which provided for the gradual lifting of the anti-Iranian sanctions in exchange for Tehran's maintaining the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. Besides, Trump decided to reinstate the previously lifted sanctions on Iran