Zarif:

Iran-Europe talks only on regional issues, not missiles

TEHRAN (defapress) – Referring to recent Western media reports claiming Iran and the West have started dialogue on Iran’s missile program, Iran’s foreign minister said that holding talks on Yemen does not mean starting negotiation on issues in other fields.

News ID: 69011

Date: 05 March 2018 - 12:29

Speaking in Tehran after meeting with National Security and Foreign Policy of Iranian Parliament on Sunday, Mohammad Javad Zarif said “talks on regional issues, in particular, the issue of the crisis in Yemen is an old one,” adding “we have repeatedly stated that if the European side is serious about negotiating regional problems, we are also ready.”

The foreign minister added that “regarding Yemen issue, the Islamic Republic of Iran, several weeks after the start of the aggression of the Saudi regime offered a four-article plan that the Europeans also knew about,” adding “we believe that the Yemeni crisis should be resolved peacefully.”

Zarif added that "in the meantime, we had discussions with Europeans to change way of sopporting such aggressive regimes long time ago, therefore, this does not mean that we have entered into negotiations on another area.”

Regarding the nuclear deal, the foreign minister stated that Iran has always abided by its commitments, and it is up to the other party to act according to its obligations.

In response to a question about Reuters's claim that Iran had had talks with countries such as Germany, Britain and Italy on the sidelines of the Munich Summit, Zarif said Iran has had talks with Europeans since the 1990s on various regional issues

With regard to the issues that are on the agenda in the meetings with vising French foreign minister, Zarif said “with all the countries we are discussing, we share common ground regarding bilateral relations, as well as economic, political, parliamentary, and regional and international issues,” adding “we will have the same discussions with the French Foreign Minister Mr. Le Drian.”

Referring to the sanctions on Iran’s banking relations. the foreign minister concluded that the other side says that sanctions on Iran’s banks belongs to the private sector, but the Islamic Republic of Iran does not consider these answers to be convincing.