“If it happened it would be a violation of Security Council resolutions”, spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday, noting that it was “certainly then a matter of serious concerns to the United States”.
Advertisement
“I have no information whatsoever that he visited Russian Federation”, Ryabkov said, adding that Moscow had told Washington so and was surprised to hear the continuing expression of concern from the U.S.
In criticising Washington for not cancelling the plan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week went as far as to say that U.S. President Barack Obama “was not telling the truth” in comments he made in 2009, linking the need for a missile shield to what he called the threat from Iran. Gen. Ghasem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, hadn’t visited Moscow.
US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner confirmed the trip Wednesday. It is working to sell skeptical lawmakers on a nuclear agreement it reached with Iran and several other countries that it has said will prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from numerous sanctions.
In an apparent attempt to dispel US criticism of Russia’s ties with Suleimani, Ryabkov accused the United States of having violated UN Security Council resolutions. The U.S. sanctioned him in 2005 for his role in supporting global terrorism, which bars him from doing business outside of Iran.
Advertisement
Suleimani has also been sighted visiting Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, Shiite and Kurdish units fighting the Islamic State jihadists group alongside government forces.
