No Zarif-Tillerson meeting on Iran’s UN agenda: Qassemi

Iran says there are no plans for a meeting between Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, after media reports hinted of such a meeting.  

Foreign Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi was responding to a question whether a meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was on the agenda of Zarif’s upcoming trip to New York, where he will attend the 72nd annual session of the UN General Assembly.

Qassemi emphasized no such meeting has been planned and that he is not aware of such a request from Washington.

Earlier, AFP had quoted “diplomats” as saying that Tillerson would hold a first meeting on the Iran nuclear deal with Zarif and other parties to the 2015 agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA.)

Zarif will attend the UN general assembly next week and will hold talks with counterparts from Asian, European and neighboring countries, Qassemi said.

The top diplomat is also slated to hold talks with the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and  some foreign ministers of the P5+1 group of countries – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US, the UK and Germany – on issues of bilateral and international significance as well as the JCPOA.

Dignitaries from 193 nations will gather September 19 for a week of speeches and sideline meetings at the annual UN General Assembly in New York.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is also scheduled to give a speech at the UN General Assembly next week.

Tehran’s UN Ambassador Gholam-Ali Khoshrou said in an interview on Thursday that Rouhani’s speech would focus on the JCPOA, Iran’s role on the global political and economic stage and the Islamic Republic’s efforts towards the elimination of terrorism and extremism, among other issues.