Iran’s Zarif Says Meeting With EU’s Mogherini ‘Constructive’

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is on a diplomatic tour to save the 2015 nuclear deal after the US withdrawal from the pact, said he had a “good and constructive” meeting with EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini.

Speaking to reporters after his intensive talks with Mogherini in Brussels on Tuesday, Zarif said, “It was a good and constructive meeting.”

“We have started working to reach the guarantees,” he said, referring to Iran’s demand that the remaining parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) should ensure Tehran’s interests will be protected.

“We are on the right track… to make sure that the interests of the remaining signatories of the JCPOA, especially Iran, will be guaranteed.”

The Iranian top diplomat further stressed the need for all parties to the JCPOA to completely implement the agreement and said the two sides agree that Iran should benefit from the JCPOA.

The foreign minister is in Brussels on the final leg of a whirlwind diplomatic tour, which has already taken him to Beijing and Moscow.

He is gauging international readiness to guarantee Iran’s interests if it decides to remain in the nuclear pact a week after US President Donald Trump announced that the US was walking away from the JCPOA.

In a speech from the White House last Tuesday, Trump accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and seeking nukes before announcing the US withdrawal from 2015 agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Following the controversial decision, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran weighs plans to remain in the agreement with the other five parties, provided that they ensure full benefits for Iran.

In a speech on Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei urged that any decision to keep the deal running without the US should be conditional on “practical guarantees” from the three European parties to the JCPOA.