Iran Press/ Iran News: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a tweet in Russian on Thursday said: "The US reluctance to extend the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty SNV-lll, one of the most important international security and arms control treaties, which expires in February 2021, is another clear example of the United States' lack of interest in world stability and its great desire to start an arms race in the world."
Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday offered to extend the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-2) between Moscow and Washington for another year without any preconditions, yet the White House immediately rejected the offer.
The Russian president instructed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to receive a convincing response from the United States in the near future.
The START 2 or New Start Agreement was signed between Moscow and Washington to reduce nuclear weapons.
Former US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev met in the Czech capital, Prague, in 2010 to sign a pact to reduce the two countries' nuclear arsenals.
Under the new agreement, the United States and Russia were allowed to deploy a maximum of 1,550 warheads, about 30 percent less than the restrictions set out in the 2002 START treaty.
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