NOVANEWS
Mohammad Zarif says Israel ‘biggest danger to region and the world,’ ahead of expected talks between Iran and world powers on final agreement
TIMES OF ISRAEL
Iran will not attend nuclear talks if the “Zionist regime” participates, Iran’s foreign minister announced on Friday.
A report by the country’s official news agency IRNA quoted Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying that Islamic Republic “would not attend a meeting in which the Quds [Jerusalem] occupying regime participates.”
“We consider the Zionist regime as the biggest danger to the region and the world,” Zarif told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), according to IRNA.
Following last weekend’s breakthrough interim deal between Iran and six world powers, the two sides are set to start talks on a final agreement that would see Iran further curb its nuclear program in exchange for eased international sanctions.
The report said the foreign minister’s remarks were in response to possible Israeli participation in the expected talks. It did not elaborate on the source of the reports on Israel’s possible presence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had slammed the Geneva deal as a “historic mistake” and announced the dispatch to the US of his national security adviser to try to shape the final agreement with Iran.
“Definitely…we will not be in a room where the Zionist regimeˈs envoy is present,” Zarif promised.
He said instead of putting pressures on Iran, the world powers should try to push for regional disarmament, a reference to disarming Israel’s own alleged nuclear arsenal. Israel applies a policy of ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying it possesses a nuclear arsenal.
Since the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought Islamist leaders to power, Iran does not recognize Israel and supports terror groups like Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Israel in turn views Iran as a major danger to its national interests, as previous Iranian leaders have called for the Jewish state to be destroyed.
Last weekend, in a meeting with world powers, Iran agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear program in return for the easing of Western sanctions.
Western powers and Israel worry Iran’s nuclear program could be used to build an atomic bomb. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like power generation and medical research.
Meanwhile, Iranian nuclear envoy Reza Najafi said the interim nuclear deal likely will start to be implemented at the end of next month or in early January. Najafi spoke Friday near the end of a two-day meeting of the United Nations nuclear agency, which will monitor the agreement reached in Geneva.
