Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia has echoed the words of Sergey Lavrov, stating that if the US goes through with Donald Trump’s threat to pull out of the JCPOA (aka the Iran nuclear deal), it would only lead to a further escalation of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.
Nebenzia stated,
“Iran did find itself linked to DPRK [North Korea] because if the United States leaves the JCPOA this will be the worst signal we can send to North Korea”.
Hailing the JCPOA as a “symbol of the triumph of multi-party diplomacy”, he continued added,
“…recently, we have seen irresponsible, unilateral attempts to derail this breakthrough, collective agreement”.
This was a clear indication that Russia is incredibly disappointed with Donald Trump’s threats to pull out of the JCPOA. This is a few shared by China and America’s traditional EU allies.
This comes as Iran announces the successful completion of a domestically built 2,000Km range ballistic missile, capable of a payload consisting of multiple warheads. The construction of the new missile is in full compliance with the terms of the JCPOA.
There exists a fear among the wider world that the JCPOA which has been an example of preventing the US from going to war over fears of weapons development, through the use of multi-lateral dialogue, could be seriously undermined. Trump’s threats to axe the deal would imply that an American agreement isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
Yesterday, China implored the US to come back to the negotiating table with North Korea in the previously successful format which saw South Korea, North Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the US participate in multilateral talks.
Instead, the war of words between North Korea and the United States has turned decreasingly personal with Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump trading insults via official statements, speeches and Tweets.
Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
Because of the increasingly personal attacks between Kim and Trump, it is looking less likely that the two will be able to arrange for bilateral or even multilateral dialogue initiatives.
However, this leaves the door open for Russia to implement its tripartite economic initiative involving both Korean states which remains the best hope for peace on the Korean peninsula. Such an initiative was endorsed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in during his address to the UN General Assembly, yesterday.
South Korean President Moon calls for peace – endorses Putin style economic cooperation
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