The policy of pressure on Iran continues

Washington intends to continue to apply maximum pressure on Tehran in order to force Iran to begin the negotiations on a new comprehensive agreement to replace the «Joint Comprehensive Action Plan» on the Iranian nuclear program — the State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortegus announced. On 8th of May, Iran announced the suspension of some of its obligations under the nuclear deal despite the new threats from the USA.

In a statement from the American Association for the Arms Control, the US unfoundedly accused Russia in possible violations of the terms of the ‘Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’ — Interfax reports. This statement was made after the speech of the head of the Intelligence Agency of the US Department of Defense, General Robert Ashley, during which he stated that «Russia, probably, doesn’t comply with the established moratorium regarding the ‘zero-power standard’ — low-power nuclear charges». After the journalists demanded the proofs — he was forced to change the wording. He explained that Russia has a “potential” for such tests, same with China and the US. The statement also reminded that Russia signed and ratified the «Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty», while the US signed, but didn’t ratify the treaty
The Israeli parliamentarians voted to self-dissolve, and re-run the elections — Israeli media reported. They took such a step due to the fact that the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following the results of the last election, couldn’t form a ruling coalition. The elections are planned for 17th of September, 2019. The current President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, announced that he is ready to do everything possible to avoid the new elections. The political party of Benjamin Netanyahu «Likud» initiated the vote on the dissolving of the parliament in order to prevent the president from trying to form a government without Benjamin Netanyahu, and his supporters.

On Thursday, Vladimir Putin submitted a draft law on the suspension of the INF treaty to the Russian parliament. This was reported to the journalists by the chairman of the lower house of the parliament — Vyacheslav Volodin. According to the bill, despite the suspension of the treaty — the president still has the right to resume it. The Russian parliament will start considering this bill on 18th of June. On 29th of May, Vladimir Putin appointed the Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as the presidential representative on the matter of suspension of the INF treaty.