BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 15. The current unfolding situation in the Middle East is the result of the blocking by the US and three European countries (Great Britain, France, and Germany) of the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program. Russia's representative in international organizations based in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on X, TurkicWorld reports.

Ulyanov stated that there was a chance to get rid of this situation in the Middle East. However, Western countries have prepared the soil for the emergence of this crisis.

To note, the Comprehensive Plan of Joint Action on Iran's nuclear program was implemented between Iran and the P5+1 group (the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) in January 2016. The US announced in May 2018 that it was withdrawing from the plan and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. Iran has announced that there will be no restrictions on the Iran nuclear deal in 2020.

In late 2020, the Iranian parliament adopted a strategic plan to counter the sanctions, citing the non-fulfillment of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed between Iran and six countries and the imposition of sanctions on Iran.

According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, as of February 23, Iran had stopped the implementation of additional measures and an additional protocol included in the nuclear deal. As a consequence, the monitoring mechanism of the IAEA was reduced by 20–30 percent.

On April 1, an Israeli airstrike in the Mezze district of Damascus killed 13 people, including the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria and Lebanon, General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his deputy, Mohammad Haji Rahimi. Since then, tensions between Iran and Israel have increased. Iran confirmed on April 14 that it fired dozens of rockets and anti-aircraft missiles at Israel in retaliation.