FM Asks US to Remain Committed to Geneva Deal


FM Asks US to Remain Committed to Geneva Deal

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday that he has reminded US Secretary of State John Kerry about Washington’s commitment to the text of the Geneva nuclear deal between Tehran and the six major world powers, reached in November last year.

“In my meeting with the US secretary of state, I emphasized that it is necessary for the United States to remain committed to the texts on which we reached an agreement,” Zarif said in a joint press conference with his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt here in Tehran on Tuesday.

The Iranian minister made the comments following a Sunday meeting with Kerry on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

However, Iran’s foreign ministry had announced earlier that media reports and speculations about the content of the February 2 meeting between Zarif and Kerry was "inaccurate and not confirmed", adding that the two top diplomats had conferred on the upcoming nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers due to be held in Vienna later this month.

Elsewhere in the press conference today, Foreign Minister Zarif talked about his meeting with Kerry, and stated, “In the meeting with Kerry, I emphasized that the (anti-Iran) sanctions are illegal and futile, and that the US should have a new look at the issue. The US should seek to resolve the issue, not to exert pressure on Iran.”

The Iranian top diplomat once again stressed that the process of building the confidence or reducing mistrust requires the both sides to honor their commitment to the agreement the nuclear negotiators have signed onto, and “not to publish other texts unduly” as a basis for further negotiations.

On November 24, 2013, Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva, based on which the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to suspend its 20% enrichment for a period of six months.

The breakthrough deal, which has come into effect since January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.

But on January 16, the White House released a four-page summary of the Geneva deal, and put a biased interpretation on the technical details of the accord.

Shortly afterwards, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham dismissed the White House summary as a one-sided account of the Geneva deal, and added that the statement was “a unilateral and one-sided interpretation of the recent unofficial agreements reached between experts from Iran and the G5+1.”

Also on January 18, Zarif reiterated that nothing has been kept in the dark about the breakthrough nuclear deal between Tehran and the six major world powers, noting that the accord offers a clear explanation of all the matters.

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