Russia on Tuesday aligned itself with its ally Iran in rejecting Western attempts to maintain curbs on Iran despite the collapse of a 2015 deal intended to restrain Tehran's nuclear program in return for relief from sanctions.
After a meeting between respective deputy foreign ministers in Tehran, Russia's foreign ministry said Moscow and Tehran were unanimous in believing that the failure to implement the deal stemmed from the "erroneous policy of 'maximum pressure' pursued by the United States and those who think similarly".
Then-U.S. president Donald Trump quit the deal known as the JCPOA in 2018, leaving economic sanctions in place, and Iran's relations with the West have been deteriorating ever since, as it has accelerated its nuclear programme.
But Russia, which signed the deal alongside the U.S., China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, has been deepening ties with Iran since its invasion of Ukraine.
The war, which Russia calls a "special military operation", has driven its own relations with the West to their lowest level in decades.
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