Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a joint press conference following their talks in Moscow on Sept. 2, 2019. (Russian Foreign Ministry Photo)

Zarif said that if European countries do not fulfill their obligations under the nuclear deal by Sept. 5, Iran will move to the third round of reduction in its implementation of the obligations.

MOSCOW, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Iran have confirmed their continued commitment to the Iran nuclear deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

"We reaffirmed our strong principled commitment to preserving the agreement, which was approved by a UN Security Council resolution," Lavrov said at a joint press conference held with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif following their talks here.

Lavrov said Russia believes the situation around the Iran nuclear deal is a direct consequence of the destructive steps by Washington, which has not only withdrawn from the deal but also attempted to prevent other countries from fulfilling it.

It was this U.S. policy to undermine the international agreement that compelled Iran to partially suspend the fulfillment of its obligations, Lavrov said.

Zarif said that if European countries do not fulfill their obligations under the nuclear deal by Sept. 5, Iran will move to the third round of reduction in its implementation of the obligations.

"As for our third step, we openly said that paragraph 36 of the deal determines Iran's rights in the case that other participants do not comply with the accord," Zarif said.

"So if the Europeans do not fulfill their obligations by this date, we will definitely take the third step," he said.

In May 2019, Iran started to scale back from its nuclear commitments subject to the 2015 international nuclear deal, one year after the United States withdrew from it.