Possibility of adjusting Iran nuclear deal extremely problematic

MOSCOW - 14 October 2017: Moscow doubts it would be possible to adjust or somehow improve the deal on Iran's nuclear program, Interfax quoted the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

"As for proposals to 'improve' the agreement or to rectify that what does not suit the American side, personally I have big doubts regarding these proposals," Ryabkov said in commenting on US President Donald Trump's declared decision to decertify the Iran nuclear deal.

"We all remember, and some of us saw first-hand, so to speak, how hard it was to devise the existing document, how difficult it was to strike the subtle balance of interests and find compromises," Ryabkov said.

"So adding something to this document now, changing something in it, in my view, would be extremely problematic, speaking most mildly," Ryabkov said.

"It appears that Washington is taking the course toward the revision of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the whole," he said.

"This is the next step, the next far-reaching destructive impulse, which shows that our American counterparts in fact take quite a flippant approach toward matters that call for much more profound and serious analysis in terms of assessing what might happen if such methods are applied," he said.

"All of this causes our deep regret, but the reality is such that we should look for answers to new questions and redouble our efforts to keep the situation from changing further toward the collapse of this crucial agreement in the area of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which took so much effort to work out," he said.