London- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday he hoped that Iran would not quit the agreement Iran reached in 2015 with world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert reiterated Washington’s stance in regard of the “violation of the spirit of the JCPOA.”

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Tehran must be held responsible for “its missile launches, support for terrorism, disregard for human rights, and violations of UN Security Council resolutions.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said this week that Iran could abandon the deal “within hours” if the United States imposed any more new sanctions.

Lavrov also said he hoped the United States would not violate its obligations under the nuclear deal with Iran, Reuters reported.

“I think unilateral sanctions … are irresponsible actions that can hurt and undermine the balance achieved,” Lavrov said, commenting on new restrictions recently imposed by Washington on Iran.

Nauert replied to Rouhani’s threats saying Iran of violating the spirit of the nuclear deal and imposing threat to the region.

Nauret further clarified that the United States remains fully committed to fight Iran’s threats that are not only imposed over the region, but over the whole world, including the missile program.

“Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage,” Haley said.”The nuclear deal must not become ‘too big to fail’.”