A senior Russian diplomat said it is "fair" for Iran to reproach the West for dragging its feet in fulfilling its part of last year's nuclear deal amid Tehran's complaints that it has not received the promised sanctions relief.
In an interview with Interfax news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the removal of anti-Iran economic bans have so far failed to pave the way for the return of international businesses to the Iranian market.
"I won't hide that the Iranian colleagues, in our view quite fairly, point out that despite the fact that an impressive mass of unilateral US and EU restrictions have been lifted, international business representatives are not in a hurry to return to Iran's economy."
The current situation, Ryabkov said, has prompted Iran to reproach the westerners for the shortfall and urge Washington and the EU to speed up "the explanatory work among commercial structure, with a particular emphasis on what is permitted" under the nuclear agreement.
Last July, a historic nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was inked between Tehran and the six major powers, namely Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany.
The accord, which took effect in January, ended decades of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
However, months into the JCPOA's implementation, Iran complains that the promised economic benefits have yet to materialize and that it still does not have full access to global financial markets.
Many international banks still shy away from financing trade deals and processing transactions for fear of US penalties.
Tehran has warned it can restore all those aspects of its nuclear program it agreed to limit under the deal with the major powers, if those countries continue to violate the agreement.
Last month, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met his US counterpart, John Kerry, and urged Washington to show seriousness in encouraging banks to do business with Iran in accordance with the terms of the JCPOA. Elsewhere in his comments, the Russian official touched on regular meetings of JCPOA's Joint Commission and said the mechanism helps resolve the nuclear deal's "rough areas", and all the problematic issues that arise in the implementation process.
