Iran foreign policy Archives - Iran News Daily

Rouhani Welcomes Mustafa Al-Kadhimi

reporter 1222 — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 12:34:08 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Tuesday.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi at Tehran’s Islamic Summit Conference Hall on Tuesday.

The meeting was held at the presence of Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami, Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami, Caretaker of Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade Hossein Modarres Khiabani, and The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday noon to hold talks with senior Iranian officials, including the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

Both sides are slated to confer on strengthening bilateral cooperation in various political, economic and cultural fields and discuss the latest regional and international developments.

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Iran’s priorities to protect independence, self-sufficiency

reporter 1222 — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 06:31:17 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei said on Friday that relying on domestic capacities and protecting independence are Iran’s priorities.

“In this situation, protecting independence and power of the foreign policy and also relying on domestic economy and capacities are Iran’s important priorities,” Sanaei said in a press conference in Moscow.

Iran’s top diplomat in Moscow also said it was “natural” that Iran decided to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA, the official name for the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran has started to partially reduce its commitments to the JCPOA in response to the United States which abandoned the landmark deal in May 2018 and reinstituted sanctions.

And, since April 2019, the Trump administration has gone beyond the pre-JCPOA sanctions to impose measures that would reduce Iran’s oil export income “to zero.” U.S. secondary sanctions now apply to virtually every civilian sector of Iran’s economy.

“The United States violated the JCPOA and the Europeans do not take enough actions to preserve the deal. So, how do you think Iran should behave?” the ambassador asked.

So far, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has taken four steps to cut back commitments in accordance with paragraph 36 of the JCPOA which “allows one side, under certain circumstances, to stop complying with the deal if the other side is out of compliance.”

Top officials in Tehran have repeatedly said if the European Union shields Iran’s economy from the sanctions affect the country will reverse its decision.

Under the JCPOA, Iran promised to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions.

On May 8, exactly one year after the U.S. abandoned the deal, Tehran announced that its “strategic patience” is over and began to partially reduce its commitments to the agreement at bi-monthly intervals.

In the first stage, Iran announced that it will not limit its stockpile of the nuclear fuel to 300 kilograms allowed under the deal. On that date (May 8) Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said if the remaining parties to the JCPOA, especially Europeans, devise a mechanism to protect Iran from the sanctions’ effect in the two-month deadline it will reverse its decision.

But since European parties missed the deadline, on July 7 Iran announced that it has started enriching uranium to a higher purity than the 3.67%, thereby starting the second step.

Again, as Europe missed the second 60-day deadline, Iran moved to take the third step, removing a ban on nuclear research and development (R&D).

In the latest step, which started on November 6, Iran began injecting uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear site. It was done at the presence of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on Monday that no one can question Iran for deciding to scale down its commitments to the JCPOA.

In a panel discussion in Tokyo, he said that Iran’s action in reducing nuclear commitments does not mean quitting the JCPOA.

“The current situation is the result of the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA and the only solution to it is the removal of sanctions and return to diplomacy,” the top diplomat noted.

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Tehran-Vienna Strategic cooperation is Practical

reporter 1222 — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 09:01:24 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Austria’s Ambassador to Tehran, Stefan Scholz said that strategic relations between Tehran and Vienna has been put into practice.

He described Tehran-Vienna ties as ‘strategic’.

He made the remarks late on Tue. on the occasion of National Day of Austria, held at the venue of the embassy in Tehran, and pointed to Vienna’s hosting of landmark nuclear talks between Iran and six world’s major powers and added, “Austrian government throws its weight behind Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), official title of Iran’s nuclear deal, and believes that signatories of the deal should live up to their commitments fully.”

Austria lashes out at US pullout from JCPOA and reimposition of unilateral sanctions against Iran, he said, and added, “commitment of other countries involved in nuclear talks for maintaining and encouraging vast economic ties with Iran paved suitable ways for Iran and Austria to bolster bilateral ties in all arenas, the most importance of which can be referred to setting up renewable energies’ center for Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)’s member states.”

It should be noted that commemoration ceremony of “National Day of Austria’ was held on Tue. in the presence of Vice President and Chief of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and AEOI Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi. His presence is an act of strengthening Tehran-Vienna ties.

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Zarif’s statement after Saudi reaches out for talks

reporter 1222 — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 07:58:43 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has underscored his ministry’s preparedness to engage in collaboration with neighboring countries over regional security following a report on Saudi Arabia’s pursuit of mediation between Riyadh and Tehran.

Zarif’s statement to Iranian Parliament members on Tuesday was that “the Foreign Ministry is always ready for cooperation with its neighbors on the security of the region. We have (already) announced our position officially,” Iran News quotes what Icana reported.

His comments come in the wake of a report published by The New York Times where the paper said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had asked Iraqi and Pakistani top officials to intervene following the September 14 Yemeni aerial attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

Iran’s top diplomat also made a reference to the regional peace initiative set forth last month by President Hassan Rouhani at the UN General Assembly and noted that the Islamic Republic’s Hormuz Peace Endeavor (HOPE) serves the same purpose.

“Under the conditions and circumstances where the Saudis have expressed readiness to negotiate with Iran, if they pursue regional issues not through killing people but at the negotiating table, then they will definitely find the Islamic Republic on their side,” added Zarif.

The HOPE initiative comes against the backdrop of tensions in the Persian Gulf, where several tankers and commercial vessels recently came under suspicious attacks by unknown parties while attempting to cross the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Also, last month’s air raid on the Saudi state oil giant, Aramco, was claimed by Yemen’s Houthis, but the kingdom and the US were quick to blame it on Iran without evidence.

The New York Times report also said that US President Donald Trump’s refusal to engage in a military response following the Yemeni attack “raised questions for the Saudis about the American commitment to Saudi security, which has underpinned the strategic layout of the Persian Gulf for decades.”

Washington’s lack of action “prompted Saudi Arabia to seek its own solution to the conflict,” The Times wrote.

The Saudi government told paper that Baghdad and Islamabad had offered to mediate talks, but denied the move was at the request of the Saudi crown prince.

Tehran already indicated it was open to talks with Riyadh in that regard, with Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iranian Parliament telling the Al Jazeera news network that “Iran is open to starting a dialogue with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.”

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