Iran

Iran will never buckle under pressure: Zarif

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Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran will never capitulate to the pressure exerted through imposing sanctions against the country.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has proven that it does not succumb to pressure,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a meeting with a visiting British parliamentary team in Tehran on Wednesday.

The four-member British delegation, headed by former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, arrived in the Iranian capital on a three-day visit on Tuesday.

Zarif said it would be “very easy” to reach agreement over Tehran’s nuclear energy program, but stressed that “mutual trust” is a prerequisite to reaching an understanding.

Referring to a fatwa by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei banning the use and possession of nuclear weapons, Zarif said, “Nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s defensive doctrine.”

On February 22, 2012, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons “a grave sin” from every logical, religious and theoretical standpoint.

Zarif also expressed hope that the British delegation’s visit would pave the way for improving bilateral ties based on mutual interests.

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