Lavrov on missile treaty, Iran tension and Syria

Russia's foreign policy chief on Friday US policies for growing global tensions, noting Washington's reluctance to extend a key nuclear arms pact.

Speaking at an annual news conference, Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the US has stonewalled Russia's push for extending the New START nuclear arms treaty which expires in 2021.

The agreement is the last US-Russian arms control deal still in place, and Moscow has argued that its demise will remove the final barrier stemming an arms race.

"We stand for the extension of the New START treaty without any preconditions," he said, "I hope that the Americans hear us, but we haven't received any coherent signals from them."

Lavrov is serving as acting foreign minister in the wake of Wednesday's resignation of the Russian Cabinet.

Turning to other issues, he said the mood in Iran was tense after the early January killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soliemani by the United States.

"There is information that right after that attack (on Soleimani) the Iranians were expecting another strike from the US," Lavrov said.

Lavrov meanwhile claimed Russia had achieved a "decisive victory in the fight against terrorism," saying the remaining hotspots of Islamic State group fighters and Al-Nusra resistance in Syria were mostly located in the Idlib de-escalation zone and the Eastern bank, where there were around 10,000 IS fighters.

"They are mostly located in camps controlled by the so called Syrian Democratic Forces," Lavrov said, "And we have been receiving some alarming intelligence, which is being verified, that for a certain payment these Democratic Forces are releasing those militants who start spreading over other areas of the Syrian territory."