FM Zarif:
Iran Open to Talks With Neighbors Without West
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday Iran will not engage in talks with the Western countries on the region due to their interventionist approach, but always stands ready for dialogue with its neighbors.
Zarif touched on Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud’s recent remarks in an AFP interview that Arab states must participate in any new negotiations between Iran and the West.
In an Arabic-language post on his Twitter account, Zarif wrote, "It seems that some of Iran’s neighboring states have asked the West that they also be part of the negotiations process with Tehran.
"We will not negotiate with the West over the region. The main problem is their intervention,” he noted.
"At the same time, we are always ready for talks with our neighbors. The proposals, such as the 1986 regional security, the 2016 regional dialogue forum and the 2019 Hormuz Peace Initiative (HOPE), show this.”
The tweet came days after bin Farhan said the Persian Gulf countries must be "consulted” before the United States revives a nuclear deal with Iran.
"Primarily what we expect is that we are fully consulted, that we and our other regional friends are fully consulted in what goes on vis-à-vis the negotiations with Iran,” he told AFP on the sidelines of a security conference in Bahrain’s Manama on Saturday.
Riyadh, which enjoyed cozy relations with the Trump administration, supported Washington’s withdrawal
from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and its "maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.
In a separate interview, bin Farhan claimed that while Saudi Arabia was not opposed to a possible return of the U.S. to the Iran nuclear deal, a "permanent ban” should be imposed on Tehran’s uranium enrichment.
He said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) did not address Iran’s regional activities.
"We hope that all issues of concern to the Iranians will be confronted, chief among them the necessity to impose a permanent ban on uranium enrichment, and not to enable Iran to return to these activities in the past,” he told In Italian newspaper La Repubblica published on Saturday.
Zarif touched on Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud’s recent remarks in an AFP interview that Arab states must participate in any new negotiations between Iran and the West.
In an Arabic-language post on his Twitter account, Zarif wrote, "It seems that some of Iran’s neighboring states have asked the West that they also be part of the negotiations process with Tehran.
"We will not negotiate with the West over the region. The main problem is their intervention,” he noted.
"At the same time, we are always ready for talks with our neighbors. The proposals, such as the 1986 regional security, the 2016 regional dialogue forum and the 2019 Hormuz Peace Initiative (HOPE), show this.”
The tweet came days after bin Farhan said the Persian Gulf countries must be "consulted” before the United States revives a nuclear deal with Iran.
"Primarily what we expect is that we are fully consulted, that we and our other regional friends are fully consulted in what goes on vis-à-vis the negotiations with Iran,” he told AFP on the sidelines of a security conference in Bahrain’s Manama on Saturday.
Riyadh, which enjoyed cozy relations with the Trump administration, supported Washington’s withdrawal
from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and its "maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.
In a separate interview, bin Farhan claimed that while Saudi Arabia was not opposed to a possible return of the U.S. to the Iran nuclear deal, a "permanent ban” should be imposed on Tehran’s uranium enrichment.
He said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) did not address Iran’s regional activities.
"We hope that all issues of concern to the Iranians will be confronted, chief among them the necessity to impose a permanent ban on uranium enrichment, and not to enable Iran to return to these activities in the past,” he told In Italian newspaper La Repubblica published on Saturday.