Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday criticised the US’ “demonisation” of Iran and stressed that US sanctions on the country “will not work”. Speaking in a lengthy interview with Sputnik, Lavrov indicated that the problem with Iran is that the “US authorities have demonised it” and it “got labelled as the main problem of the region in question.” He also clarified that: “Iran gets accused of meddling in local countries’ internal affairs, one way or the other” and the US “essentially seeks to set the whole dialogue on Mideastern and North African problems on an anti-Iranian track.” Lavrov stressed: “First of all, that is futile, as a reliable and sustainable resolution of problems is possible only through agreements between all parties involved.” However, he explained: “The entire current logic of the US policy is set on making Iran the focus of all containment and punishment efforts, with regime change being presented as the only thing that would let the whole region breathe freely.” The top Russian diplomat emphasised: “That is a dead end. The sanctions that are being used in a bid to strangle Iran did not work before and will not work now,” noting that “Iran has expressed its readiness for dialogue on numerous occasions, and that readiness remains.” He continued: “We will help start such a dialogue. Together with the European states and China, we stand for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on settling the Iranian nuclear issue, which was approved by the United Nations Security Council in 2015, and which is now being destroyed by the US, which focuses on their drive to demonise Iran.” “The discussions in the UNSC continue, with 13 out of 15 of its members opposing the attempts to destroy the JCPOA and to blame Iran for everything that’s been happening,” Lavrov concluded.