Iran is not seeking to increase tension but every country should be able to enjoy its rights under international law, Zarif was quoted by Reuters as having said in Yokohama, near Tokyo, at the beginning of a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“As our president has said, we are not at all seeking heightened tensions,” Zarif said.

Taking to Twitter after the meeting with Abe, the Iranian top diplomat described the talks as “constructive”, and noted that the talks focused on bilateral ties, Iran’s nuclear deal (JCPOA), and the current tensions in the Persian Gulf region.

The reported meeting between President Rouhani and Prime Minister Abe will take place on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, which will open on 17 September. The first day of the high-level General Debate will be Tuesday, 24 September 2019, where the two Iranian and Japanese premiers are slated to take part.

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He seized this opportunity to express his special thanks to the Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and added, “you [Zarif] acted tirelessly and indefatigably in this field and brought about numerous achievements to the Islamic Revolution and the Establishment.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani described Zarif as an experienced, competent and skilled diplomat and added, “as chief official in charge of foreign policy of the country, you [Zarif] defend the country persistently, authoritatively and seriously. Since your efforts have been effective in the international arena, enemies of the country have resorted to impose sanctions on you.”

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed his thanks to the presence of Iranian Parliament Speaker Larijani in the Foreign Ministryand added, “we will strongly support the defend the national interests in the international arena.”

It should be noted that US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last week.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Foreign Minister for Parliament and Iranian Expatriates’ Affairs and Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Seyyed Abbas Mousavi.

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The senior adviser to Iran’s Foreign Minister in Political Affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, led the Iranian delegation in the meeting which was chaired by European External Action Service (EEAS) Secretary General Helga Schmid and attended by France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom at the level of Political Directors.

“The discussions focused on the political and humanitarian situation in Yemen,” reports the website of European External Action Service, adding, “All sides reiterated their strong support to a continued UN-led process under the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffith and underlined the importance of the Stockholm Agreement and its swift implementation, in particular in Hodeidah.”

“The participants also updated on the outcome of the Brussels III Conference on ‘Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region’ and on follow-up to the Astana process on Syria,” the report adds, highlighting that “The participants agreed to meet again in this format in the near future.”

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He held separate meetings with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Vasilyevich Fomin, Middle East director Sergei Vershinin, and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Middle East affairs.

The planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria has created a new situation in the region.

Turkish Foreign Minister said Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday that as the U.S. is experiencing “certain difficulties” with the withdrawal from Syria, it should be coordinated with Iran and Russia to prevent “terrorists” from taking up the vacated space.

“The United States [has] been facing certain difficulties with the process of the troops’ withdrawal from Syria. We want to coordinate this process with Russia and Iran, with which we had arranged work in the framework of the Astana process,” Cavusoglu stated, according to RT.

Cavusoglu visited Moscow late in December to discuss the situation in Syria. On Wednesday, he mulled bilateral talks between Turkey and Iran, giving no timeframe, however.

At the same time, Cavusoglu revealed that a summit involving the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran is being prepared in Moscow. The last meeting between the three presidents was held in Tehran on Sept. 7

The proposal comes as Ankara and Washington are engaged in a bitter war of words over the U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria. On Tuesday, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton blasted an opinion piece penned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the New York Times as both “offensive and wrong.”

Erdogan praised his own efforts in combatting terrorism in Syria, while criticizing the U.S.-backed operations in Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul, as well as recalling the “lesson of Iraq” and the “premature declarations of victory” which led to the emergence of Islamic State (IS).

Iran, Russia, and Turkey – guarantors of the Syrian peace process under the Astana Group– have spurned efforts by the UN to change the composition of a committee due to write a new constitution for Syria.

The 150-strong committee, due to start work this year, could pave the way for UN-supervised elections and a possible peace process that would encourage millions of refugees to return to their homeland, the Guardian reported.

The agreement on the committee’s formation was formally reached by the three countries on December 18 last year in Geneva and the proposals passed to former UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, for his endorsement and for consideration by the UN Security Council on December 20.

The Geneva agreement was signed off by Çavu?oglu, his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif.

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 The Senior Aide to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari departed Tehran for Moscow on Wednesday morning.

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The sides held consultations on the resolution of problems in formation of the Syrian Constitution Committee and the forthcoming round of the Syrian International Peace Talks in Astana, the Foreign Ministry website reported on Wednesday.

The peace talks are scheduled to be held at the in the Kazakh capital on November 28-29.

Jaberi Ansari, who is Iran’s top negotiator at Syria talks, met on November 12 with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, and some other Syrian political and security officials to discuss the latest developments in the country and issues related to the constitutional committee.

In their meeting, Jaberi Ansari and Assad stressed the importance of Syrian-Iranian relations as a factor of stability, and reaffirmed both nations’ determination to continue combat against terrorist groups operating across the region.

They also underlined the need that dialogue is the sole solution to the Syria crisis.

The Iranian negotiator and the Syrian leader also vowed to resist any pressure by the United States, which is attempting to revive terrorists to topple the Damascus government.

Iran has been offering military advisory support to Syria at the request of its government, enabling its army to speed up its gains on various fronts against terror groups.

However, over the past few years, Israel, the closest ally of the U.S., has frequently attacked military targets inside Syria to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering defeats in the battle against Syrian government forces.

In addition, the U.S.-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the government or a UN mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh.

Jaberi Ansari and Assad also discussed a yet-to-be-formed constitutional committee, which is supposed to include representatives from various Syrian groups.

The committee is expected to include 150 members: 50 chosen by Damascus, 50 by the opposition and the final 50 by de Mistura. It will also include civil society representatives, religious and tribal leaders, experts and women.

The UN-prepared list has already been rejected by Damascus, which is to draw up its own list, along with Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Even if the committee is finally established, analysts say the task of discussing a post-war constitution will be difficult.

The Syrian government has on numerous occasions said that it would only agree with some alteration to the current constitution, whereas the opposition is pushing for an entirely new constitution.

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“In this trip we tried to reach a framework between Iran and Russia for talks about Yemen,” Jaberi Ansari said, Mehr reported on Friday.

On talks with four European countries and the European Union in general, he said, “The aim of these consultations is to find a solution to help Yemen out of the current conflict, in a way that warmongers can find a way out of their self-made crisis through the window of peace.”

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 Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the Special Assistant to Iran’s Foreign Minister in Political Affairs, and Susanne Rose, the Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division at United Nations met in Tehran, discussing the developments in Syria and Yemen.

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In an interview with the IRIB published on Friday, he elaborated on his trips and meetings.

On his visit to Geneva, he said, “This trip was aimed at holding second round of consultations of representatives of the countries that guarantee the Astana talks with the UN secretary general’s special envoy on Syrian affairs.”

“We decided to hold another round of talks in Geneva in future months,” he added.

Pointing to his visit to Brussels, he said that he met with Helga Schmid, secretary general of the European External Action Service, on Wednesday and discussed the Yemeni war.

Commenting on his visit to France, Jaberi Ansari said that he held meetings with heads of the French National Assembly and the Senate’s friendship groups.

He added that he also met with François Senemaud, the special envoy of French President Emmanuel Macron on Syria.

‘Iran prioritizes stability in Syria’

Jaberi Ansari said Tehran prioritizes stabilizing Syria through taking political actions.

He added Iran’s policies are in line with ending crises in the region.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a trilateral summit on Syria in Tehran on September 7. They issued a joint statement reaffirming their respective countries’ determination to continue cooperation until full eradication of terrorist groups in Syria. The three leaders stressed that there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict.

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The Syrian Army’s victories over terrorists have made it possible to bring up the issue of the return of displaced people to their country, Jaberi Ansari told IRNA at the end of the Sochi meeting on Syria.

The conference on Monday and Tuesday was a continuation of the Astana talks which was held in Sochi, Russia.

It was the tenth round of talks attended by Iran, Russia, Turkey, the Syrian government and the opposition.

Russia and Iran back the Syrian government and Turkey supports the opposition.

The senior diplomat said the return of Syrians to their country was a main topic of talks in Sochi, adding that during the 10 round of talks on Syria between Iran, Russia, Turkey, Syria and the opposition it was the first time such an issue was raised.

Most of the Syrian refugees live in Jordan and Lebanon.

Jaberi Ansari said before the recent Sochi conference talks were held with Jordanian and Lebanese officials about the return of Syrian refugees.

The Sochi meeting was attended by Iran, Russia, Turkey, the Syrian government and the opposition. Also present at the meeting was UN special envoy for Syria Steffano de Mistura.

Iran’s chief negotiator on Syria said Tuesday’s talks was the tenth of its kind on Syria that was held in Sochi instead of Astana, Kazakhstan.

Russia, Iran and Turkey were participating in the conference as guarantors of truce in Syria which has been in force since December 2016.

The meeting counts as a preliminary session for a next version of the Astana talks, whose first round took place in Sochi in January 2017.

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