French foreign minister: Window of diplomacy remains open over Iran deal

Catherine Colonna, in a phone conversation with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, said “We should benefit from the opportunity of talks and negotiations and work toward reaching an agreement that is approved by all sides.”

“We believe the window of diplomacy remains open and we should make the best use of it to achieve an agreement. Reaching an agreement would be better than not having an agreement,”she added.

Amirabdollahian, in turn, stated that that the US attended the recent talks in Doha, aimed at the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, with no initiative-based approach.

“Our assessment of the recent talks in Doha is positive. But we should wait and see how the American side would benefit from the diplomatic opportunity. The path to diplomacy is open right now. We are serious and sincere in reaching the point of a good and lasting agreement and have always tabled our positive proposals and ideas during the negotiations,” he said.

The Iranian foreign minister also said that, “The American side attended Doha talks without a progress and initiative-oriented approach.”

He said Iran believes that repetition of the past stances should not take the place of political initiatives.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always been committed to its obligations and expects other parties to also fulfill their obligations correctly,” he said.

The Iranian foreign minister also congratulated Catherine Colonna on her appointment as the foreign minister of France and expressed hope the two countries, with their efforts, witness expansion of ties in different areas.

During the meeting, the French foreign minister also welcomed the existence of good ties between Tehran and Paris.

She also expressed hope that the new ambassadors of the two countries begin their work soon to further speed up the process of expansion of cooperation and ties between the two counties.