TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif and his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok on Saturday met here to discuss issues of mutual interest and the latest regional and international developments.
Blok, in Tehran at the head of a delegation, held two rounds of talks with Zarif and was also expected to hold a separate meeting with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani later in the day.
During the first round of their talks, the top Iranian and Dutch diplomats stressed the importance of enhancing mutual relations.
At the second round of the talks, Zarif and Blok exchanged views about the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a non-dollar direct payment channel -- officially called the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), which aims to offset impacts of U.S. sanctions, the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani by the United States as well as leading developments in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria.
The Dutch foreign minister is on a regional tour which will also take him to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
On Friday, Blok visited Isfahan, where he met the governor of the central Iranian city and visited cultural and historical monuments there.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Wednesday that the Dutch and Austrian foreign ministers would visit Tehran to discuss bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues, mainly the fate of the JCPOA and peace in the Persian Gulf region.
"In the talks with the two European ministers, apart from examining the bilateral relations and the exchange of views about the major international and regional issues, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s criticism of Europe’s inaction on carrying out its commitments under the JCPOA and its passiveness in the face of the U.S. imposition of extraterritorial law will be emphasized,” he said.