Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran is sorry about the deadly Saudi-led attacks on Yemen but will forge ahead with its nuclear talks with 5+1.
Zarif made the comment in Lausanne in answer to a question about the likely impact of Yemen developments on Iran’s nuclear negotiations.
He referred to developments in Yemen as “very bitter incidents”.
The foreign minister said Iran has always stressed that the issue in Yemen should be settled through dialogue among Yemeni groups.
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Deputy Chairman of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mansour Haghighatpour Thursday denounced Saudi airstrikes on Yemen and said, “The Yemeni people will turn their country into a quagmire for aggressors. Riyadh has taken a huge gamble which will definitely result in a loss and the consequences of such action will come back to haunt the Saudis.”
The official was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying, “The Saudi airstrikes in Yemen are a mischievous move that cannot sustain, because Saudi forces won’t dare set foot on Yemeni soil.”
He went on to say, “Today, you will bear witness to a show of might by the Yemeni nation in Sana’a and Riyadh must be ready to pay the price for its abominable acts.”
Haghighatpour added Saudi Arabia took this abhorrent action with the backing of the US. “Undoubtedly, the Saudis launched attacks on Yemen in coordination with America, but they should know that gone are the times of such aggressive measures, because Washington and Riyadh have already had the experience of Syria and Iraq, and in the end regional nations will emerge victorious.”
The Iranian foreign minister has called on Saudi Arabia to immediately cease its military aggression against Yemen.
“We demand an immediate stop to the Saudi military operations in Yemen,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam news network on Thursday.
Zarif said the military operations constitute a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and will only lead to bloodshed.
“We will spare no effort to contain the crisis in Yemen,” Zarif said.
He pointed out that the act of aggression will benefit no country, adding that the military campaign will further escalate tensions in the region.
The Iranian foreign minister also urged regional and Western countries not to allow their policies playing into the hands of terrorists such as al-Qaeda and ISIL in Yemen.
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Iran has strongly condemned the Saudi-led attacks on Yemen, calling for an immediate end to military strikes against the country.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham described the aggression as a dangerous move which is in violation of international responsibilities for respecting the sovereignty of countries.
She said launching military strikes against Yemen would complicate the crisis in the country and kill the opportunity for peaceful resolution of the crisis in the Arab country.
Afkham also said the Saudi-led offensive would lead to the spread of terrorism and extremism in the region.
In his first Cabinet meeting in the New Year, President Hassan Rouhani called on everyone to redouble their efforts to actualize the New Year’s motto of ‘Harmony and Unanimity’ between people and the government.
Recalling the designation by the Supreme Leader of the New Year as “The Year of Harmony and Unanimity between the Government and People”, President Rouhani said, “There must always be harmony and unanimity between the government and people as the true owners of the country.”
Rouhani called constructive criticism as another form of support for the government and said anyone who criticizes for the sole reason of improving the conditions is in fact demonstrating support.
“Last year, the anti-Iranian sanctions continued, oil prices dropped drastically and the region suffered from insecurity and instability, despite all these hardships, statistics show the performance of the country has been hopeful,” said Rouhani, referring to the country’s 20 percent budget growth, and a relative stability in Iran’s economy.
Rouhani also called for a boost in domestic production in the New Year.
Iran has extended condolences to the German government and nation over a deadly plane crash that left 150 people dead.
On Tuesday President Hassan Rouhani expressed deep sorrow over the tragic accident and offered Tehran’s deepest sympathy to the families of the victims.
The president sent separate condolence messages to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and King Felipe VI of Spain.
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham also extended condolences to Germany and the families of those who lost loved one in the aviation disaster.
An Airbus A320 passenger aircraft owned by Germanwings, an affiliate of German airline Lufthansa, crashed in the southern French Alps Tuesday, killing all 150 people, including 144 passengers and six crew, on board.
The plane was en route from the Spanish city of Barcelona to the German city of Dusseldorf when it went down in southern France.
Iran defeated Nepal 5-0 at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in Group C of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers on Monday.
Arsalan Motahhari put the home side one up after 14 minutes before a 27th minute penalty from skipper Behnam Barzay gave Iran a 2-0 lead.
Sardar Azmoun made it 3-0 in the 55th minute and Ali Karimi scored Iran’s fourth goal in the 67th minute. Shahin Saghebi rounded off the victory three minutes from full time.
Iran will take on Palestine, who defeated Afghanistan 2-0, on Friday.
Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams from all groups will join host Qatar at the AFC U-23 Championship 2016, with January’s 16-team competition also serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio.
The spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has said that resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and the IAEA’s Board of Governors are not legal, that’s why Iran has so far refused to implement those resolutions.
Behrouz Kamalvandi made the remark in reaction to comments by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. The following is a partial translation of Kamalvandi’s remarks as reported by Tasnim News Agency on March 24:
Kamalvandi said that it would be better for the two sides if Mr. Amano made no comments on a [possible] agreement between Iran and P5+1 except in the UN nuclear agency’s quarterly and monthly reports on Iran.
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Mr. Amano has recently talked about Iran at the 2015 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which is a think tank based in Washington, the spokesman said, adding this think tank has its own political agenda and what Mr. Amano did is like delivering a speech in a partisan meeting.
Although the think tank is a place where strategic reports and materials are discussed, it has its own political positions and Mr. Amano’s remarks there could be misused, he said.
The Iranian official went on to reject Amano’s claims that IAEA inspectors cannot verify the peaceful nature of all nuclear materials inside Iran and said that Mr. Amano’s remarks are nothing new, adding they have been included in the agency’s reports to which Iran has provided verbal and written answers.
Asked about Amano’s insistence on Iran’s implementation of the Additional Protocol, Kamalvandi said that according to the agency’s reports Iran is not obliged to do so, but Mr. Amano has repeatedly said that he needs to see Iran sign the Additional Protocol before the IAEA could substantiate the peaceful nature of Iran’s atomic activities.
The Iranian official further said that the IAEA director general has also emphasized that the UN Security Council and Board of Governors have asked Iran to implement the Protocol, he said, adding that Tehran has time and again reacted to their appeal.
The spokesman further said that accepting the Protocol is optional, adding that Iran does not view the resolutions of the UN Security Council and Governors’ Board as legal.
Suspension of Iran’s [nuclear] activities is one of the issues they insist on, he said, stressing that Tehran, which is holding talks with P5+1, has not agreed to do that.
Top White House officials have revealed that Israel began to spy on the closed-door nuclear negotiations between Iran and P5+1 last year in order to sink an agreement.
Current and former American officials told the Wall Street Journal that the spying operation was part of a campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal.”
The newspaper reported on Monday that Israel was spying on the talks by eavesdropping and getting information from confidential US briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe.
According to the US officials, Israel shared information from the talks with American lawmakers and others to drain support from a nuclear agreement.
“It is one thing for the US and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal US secrets and play them back to US legislators to undermine US diplomacy,” an unnamed senior American official was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal.
American intelligence agencies learned Israel’s espionage operation when they intercepted communications among Israeli officials that carried details from the confidential talks.
However, Israel denied spying on the negotiation team of the Obama administration directly.
Tel Aviv has been persistent to undermine the talks and prevent a nuclear deal between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, Britain, Russia, China, France – plus Germany (P5+1).
Netanyahu travelled to the United States earlier this month and delivered a warning speech to the US Congress to stop a potential agreement.
On Monday, 367 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter, telling President Barack Obama that any nuclear accord must constrain Iran’s nuclear program for “decades” before Congress will roll back sanctions.
“A final comprehensive nuclear agreement must constrain Iran’s nuclear infrastructure,” the letter said.
In any agreement, “Congress must be convinced that its terms foreclose any pathway to a bomb, and only then will Congress be able to consider permanent sanctions relief,” according to the letter.
Netanyahu’s efforts to sabotage the nuclear negotiations have angered President Obama.
Obama said the re-election of Netanyahu would not affect his support for any possible deal with Iran.
“Our goal is to get this done in a matter of weeks, not months,” Obama said in an interview with the Huffington Post.
Oil buyers in Asia are preparing to purchase more crude oil from Iran amid hopes of a long-awaited nuclear deal to ease sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
As intensive nuclear talks are to resume between Tehran and six world powers, at least six Asian refiners are forecasting more supply from Iran, a top Middle East producer, if a permanent deal is reached to result in sanctions relief.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. in India and Cosmo Oil Co. in Japan are among the refiners hoping for Iran sanctions relief.
Iran is currently exporting around 1 mb/d of oil, due to US-imposed restrictions, while it has potential to supply up to 4 mb/d.
“If sanctions are removed, there’s a big chance that demand for Iranian oil will recover in Asian nations like South Korea, China and Japan,” Bloomberg quoted Hong Sung Ki, a commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Inc., as saying.
“India is another nation to watch,” said the analyst.
Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said recently that the country’s oil output would nearly quadruple just months after a possible lifting of the sanctions.
Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has recently said that “if the deal happens, it will definitely help our country.”
“It will help our imports,” said Pradhan.
The latest round of nuclear negotiations ended in Lausanne on Friday after six days of intense and serious discussions among representatives of Iran, the United States and the European Union. The talks will resume on March 25.
Talks between the US and Iran are part of broader ones between the Islamic Republic and P5+1 – the US, Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China – to reach a comprehensive agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program as a deadline slated for July 1 draws closer.
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