Russia condemns fresh EU sanctions against Iran as they could undermine ongoing talks on restoring the Iran nuclear deal, said Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday, Eurasia Diary reports citing Yeni Safak. 

Speaking at a news conference in Tehran following a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov urged the EU to take measures to prevent the breakdown of talks over returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the formal name for the 2015 deal.

"If there is a lack of coordination in the EU, and the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, it is simply a disaster,” he said.

“But if this decision is deliberately made in the midst of the negotiations that are continuing in Vienna to save the JCPOA, then it is no longer a problem, it’s already a mistake, which, as you know, is worse than a crime.”

He added: "We condemn any attempts to undermine the process that is currently developing not so easily in Vienna between all the participants of the JCPOA. I hope that our European colleagues will realize the unacceptability of such actions and will take some measures to prevent the breakdown of the negotiations."

Lavrov insisted that lifting all the US sanctions, including those against foreign firms cooperating with Iran, is a necessary step to restore the deal.

"All unilateral sanctions that were imposed by Washington in direct violation of the JCPOA should be unconditionally lifted. This is the topic that is currently being discussed in Vienna, and the implementation of this task by the US, the return of the US to the full implementation of its obligations under [UN Security Council] Resolution 2231 will allow Iran to return to full implementation of the voluntary steps that Tehran has pledged to take in accordance with this resolution,” he said.

"This applies not only to the sanctions that were illegally imposed directly against Iran but also to all those sanctions that were imposed against foreign companies for cooperating with Iran."

He warned that there is little time to restore the deal, citing the Iranian parliament passing a law on strategic measures to counter the US sanctions.

"Only a full return, without any exceptions, to the Security Council resolution, is the way out of the current situation," Lavrov stressed.