PayvandNews – Iran and Qatar have underlined the need for peaceful solutions to regional crises, as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visits Doha. Zarif on Tuesday sat down with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in the Qatari capital. During the meeting, Zarif highlighted the Iranian government’s principled policy to have the best relations with all its neighbors and expressed hope that Tehran-Doha ties would improve in all fields.
Touching on the sensitive conditions in the region and the tensions, the top Iranian diplomat said that none of the regional conflicts had military solutions and all sides had to adhere to dialog and give priority to regional initiatives meant to bring about stability and security.
The Qatari emir, for his part, expressed his satisfaction with the process of enhancing Iran-Qatar ties, noting that the two countries have always sought close relations.
He also welcomed the Islamic Republic’s stance on finding a peaceful solution to regional crises and pointed out that permanent consultation with regional countries, including Iran, was a necessity.
Zarif is in Qatar on the second leg of his two-nation trip, which had already taken him to Oman.
Back in June, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates imposed a trade and diplomatic embargo on Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism, an allegation strongly denied by Doha.
They presented Qatar with a list of demands, among them downgrading ties with Iran, and gave it an ultimatum to comply with them or face consequences. Doha, however, refused to meet the demands and said that they were meant to force the country to surrender its sovereignty.
Iran has taken a neutral stance in the dispute but has on humanitarian grounds sent food supplies to Qatar amid the Saudi-led siege of the country. It has also allowed Qatar’s national carrier to use its airspace.
P5+1 group, EU believe JCPOA non-negotiable: Iran FM
The Iranian foreign minister says almost all countries, including the P5+1 group and the European Union, believe that the historic nuclear deal that Iran clinched with six world powers in 2015 is not open to renegotiation. “Almost all countries – including the P5+1 group and the European Union as well as other members of the international community – support the need for honoring the JCPOA (Iran’s nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and its non-negotiability,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in the Omani capital of Muscat on Monday.
“We have repeatedly announced that the Islamic Republic of Iran has numerous options [if the JCPOA is violated]. We prefer that all sides observe the JCPOA and Iran will not be the first [country] to violate the JCPOA,” he added.
The top Iranian diplomat pointed to his last month’s talks with the president of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and said Miroslav Lajč�k had told him that more than 190 speeches were delivered at the body’s annual session in which all speakers supported the JCPOA and its non-negotiable nature.
Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.
Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.
During his speech at the UN General Assembly on September 19, US President Donald Trump described the JCPOA, which was negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, as “the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into,” a characterization he often used during his presidential campaign.
In October, the Republican president is due to notify Congress of whether Iran is adhering to the deal after Washington said last month that it was weighing whether to pull out of the nuclear accord.
Iran has repeatedly declared that the JCPOA is a multilateral agreement and that it would never accept to renegotiate its terms.
During an interview published by the Associated Press on September 27, Zarif said the US president “would open a Pandora’s box” if he tried to renegotiate the terms of the JCPOA, adding that the possibility of renegotiating the deal was a “myth.”
Elsewhere in his Monday remarks, the Iranian foreign minister commended “very special” relations between Tehran and Muscat, saying that the two sides enjoyed “very broad and good” ties in political field and had common views on regional issues, particularly on ways to improve security in the region.
He added that Iran and Oman had a common stance on the recent independence referendum held in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and believed that the country’s territorial integrity, national unity and constitution must be fully respected.
In defiance of Iraqi central government’s stiff opposition, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) held a non-binding referendum on September 25 on secession from Baghdad.
Official results showed that 92.73 percent of voters had backed the secession as overall turnout was put at 72.61 percent.
Zarif arrived in Muscat on Monday at the first leg of his two-nation trip, which is to take him to Qatari capital of Doha as well.
Upon his arrival, the Iranian minister held talks with his Omani counterpart, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, on mutual relations and the latest developments in the region.
… Payvand News – 10/03/17 … —