In the Sunday meeting, the two sides discussed the most pressing issues of mutual interest.
During the talks, also attended by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Zarif elaborated on the purposes behind the Islamic Republic’s Hormuz Peace Endeavour (HOPE) initiative.
The two sides also conferred on the US’ unilateral move to leave multilateral commitments including the JCPOA.
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the international deal, in defiance of global criticism, and later re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement.
In response to the move, Tehran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36, but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the mutual trade from the sanctions.
