TEHRAN -- Iran is willing to
engage in “reasonable” negotiations that serve the Iranian people’s interests,
foreign minister-designate Hussein Amir-Abdollahian has said.
“We will never run away from a reasonable negotiation table where there is authority and wisdom, but we will not tie the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the 2015 nuclear agreement,” said Amir-Abdollahian told parliament, in a speech aimed at gaining the chamber’s confidence vote.
Born in 1964, Amir-Abdollahian is a veteran diplomat who served as the deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs. He also headed Iran’s negotiation delegation at an Iran-Iraq-U.S. trilateral meeting in Baghdad in 2007.
He was picked by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as the country’s top diplomat to replace Muhammad Javad Zarif. The president’s nomination still awaits the approval of the parliament.
Amir-Abdollahian promised that, if his nomination is approved, he will do his best to neutralize the effects of the U.S. unilateral sanctions and have them removed eventually.
He also said he would not waste time in “erosive negotiations” or negotiations that fail to serve the Iranian people’s interests.