Any new US strike on Iran is ‘playing with fire’, Russia’s Lavrov warns

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that any new US strike on Iran is “playing with fire” and will have “serious consequences.”

Lavrov made the remark in an interview with Saudi Arabia's al-Arabiya television aired on Wednesday, a day after Iranian and American negotiators held indirect talks in the Swiss city of Geneva over Tehran's nuclear program.

"The consequences are not good. There have already been strikes on Iran on nuclear sites under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said.

“From what we can judge, there were real risks of a nuclear incident… Everyone understands this is playing with fire,” the top Russian diplomat emphasized.

Iran and the US held the second round of indirect nuclear negotiations at the Omani consulate general in Geneva on Tuesday. As in the previous round in the Omani capital of Muscat, the agenda of the talks focused primarily on the nuclear issue and the lifting of illegal US sanctions.

Following the talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the two sides agreed on a set of guiding principles to clear the path for future talks. 

Separately, a senior US official, who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday, said Iran is anticipated to present a written proposal for resolving its dispute with the United States following the Geneva talks.

This comes as US national security officials are conducting a review of regional military readiness, with forces expected to be fully deployed by the middle of March.

The US maintains that Iran must cease its nuclear program, whereas Tehran asserts that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons and says it is entitled to peaceful nuclear energy.

Elsewhere in his interview, Lavrov said key regional players -- especially Arab nations and the Persian Gulf littoral states -- were keen to avoid further escalation of tensions.

He added that Arab countries were sending signals to the US "clearly calling for restraint and a search for an agreement that will not infringe on Iran's lawful rights and ... guarantee that Iran has a purely peaceful nuclear enrichment program".

The Russian foreign minister cautioned that a renewed confrontation could undo recent diplomatic gains, including the improved relations between Iran and neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia.

He said Moscow remained in close contact with Tehran and believed that “Iran sincerely wants to resolve this problem on the basis of observing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

He emphasized that any agreement must respect Iran’s lawful rights.

Political pressure cannot undermine Iran’s ‘inalienable’ enrichment right: Foreign Ministry

Iran’s “inalienable” right to enrichment cannot be undermined by political pressure, says the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Iran says that its right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy is an inherent and inalienable right, and no form of pressure or political stance can undermine this right.

Tehran was among the original signatories of the NPT, signing the treaty on July 1, 1968. The Iranian Parliament ratified the NPT in February 1970, and the treaty entered into force for Iran thereafter.

Under the NPT, Iran is recognized as a non-nuclear-weapon state and agreed not to develop or acquire nuclear weapons, while in return retaining the right to pursue peaceful nuclear energy under international safeguards.

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