Iran Dismisses Talks with US on Regional Issues

Tehran rejected western media reports claiming that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his US counterpart John Kerry discussed the regional developments in their recent meeting in New York.

“There were no negotiations on the regional issues in the meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Sunday.

She said that Zarif and Kerry held talks on the nuclear issue and the measures that should be adopted since the first day of implementing the nuclear agreement reached between Tehran and the world powers on July 14.

“During the meeting, the two sides also discussed and exchanged views on methods to prevent the Iranian people’s increasing distrust of the trend of the implementation the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” Afkham said.

Iranian and US foreign ministers held a meeting on Saturday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly conference in New York.

After the meeting, certain western media quoted Kerry as claiming that he saw an opportunity for progress this week towards ending Syria’s four-year civil war as he met Zarif.

The reports came some days after Kerry, in an attempt to project the blame on others for the crisis in Syria which has exacerbated given Washington and its allies’ support for the terrorists, invited Iran to play a constructive role in the Arab country.

After his comments, Afkham said Washington is seeking to blame others for its wrong policy in Syria.

“The US secretary of state’s comments inviting Iran to play a constructive role in Syria is an attempt to project the blame of others and is against the realities of the crisis in Syria,” Afkham told reporters in Tehran on Thursday.

Reminding that Iran had always stressed the need for providing the ground for Syrian-Syrian talks and comprehensive political agreement as the only way to stop the war and end the crisis, she said, “In our view, only those solutions that are based on realities and respect the Syrian people’s will and determination will bear fruit in Syria.”

Afkham described the policies of the US and its allies in Syria as an obstacle to a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and said, “Any plan and solution to end the crisis in Syria which doesn’t prioritize fight against the terrorists and Takfiri and extremist groups is doomed to failure and setting any precondition for fighting against the terrorists and extremist groups means that the crisis will never end.”