Zarif: New sanctions may stymie road to N-deal

TEHRAN, Aug. 31 (MNA) – Iran’s FM has said any new sanctions may make roads to a nuclear deal difficult. Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was speaking in a joint press conference Sunday in Tehran with his Finn counterpart Erkki Tuomioja, said that there was a mentality among the US officials which led them to think that they would succeed in their campaign against Iran through coercive measures. Mr. Zarif said that the policy was a response to US insider ‘pressure groups.’ “We always believed that this mentality is dangerous and unconstructive which makes a deal more difficult to achieve,” Zarif told reporters, adding that the US should take the responsibility of its actions to hamper the course of negotiations. “We keep the right to retaliate with similar actions if necessary; however, our foremost commitment is to hammer out a deal with Powers, and work to abort such mentality in the region and in international level as well,” he said. Zarif told reporters that Iran believed that there is a possibility for an agreement which guarantee peace and security in the region. “We should not concern with addressing concerns of others who would not welcome a solution. We are serious and have a mutual understanding with our society,” Zarif emphasized. Zarif held that there was no pressure group inside Iran who would not want a solution. In response to a question by a Finn journalist that what sort of agreement would satisfy Iran, Zarif told that Iran was committed to Geneva Joint Plan of Action provisions; “one which guarantee that Iran’s nuclear program will remain peaceful, and the other which removes all sanctions and restrictions,” Zarif said. “We believe that nuclear weapons would have a devastating effect on our national security,” Zarif added. Zarif expressed gratitude to Finn foreign minister’s visit to Tehran and pointed to more than a century of political relations between the two countries. “Iran and Finn have developed relations especially in parliamentary visits and cultural relations as well,” he said. In response to MNA question on any visit to Saudi Arabia Zarif said that he would welcome a visit to Saudi Arabia and to recieve his Saudi counterpart.