Iran’s FM: Talk of dialogue dominate meetings with Europeans
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talk of the opening dialogue between Iran and the European countries prevailed the atmosphere of his meetings with European sides on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s annual session in New York.
In an interview with IRNA, Iran’s top diplomat said that during his meetings with the European sides he discussed numerous issues including Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s war on Lebanon, Iran’s military cooperation with Russia and accusations leveled against Iran regarding transfer of drones and missiles to Russia to be used in Ukraine war.
He referred to negotiations on revival of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers as one of the main issues which was addressed during the meetings.
“All of them know that there is no other way to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, rather than negotiations.”
Araghchi called the negotiations, not sanctions, threats and pressure as the best way to ease their concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.
Araghchi, who played a key role in the negotiations that culminated in the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers which has since unraveled, said, “In all the meetings I had with European countries, I said that you can choose the path of negotiation and you can also choose the path of sanctions.”
He underlined that sanctions are definitely not the solution to problems.
The United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.