Tag: Iran Foreign Minister

After Iran Foreign Minister Visit, MEA Downplays Discussion on Prophet Controversy

An earlier press note from the Iranian foreign ministry, which has now been taken down, had noted that NSA Ajit Doval assured the Iranian foreign minister of ‘government level action’ against the ‘offenders’.

New Delhi: Iran on Wednesday, June 8, claimed that India’s national security advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval, had given assurances to visiting Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian about action at the “government level” against those behind the remarks against Prophet Mohammed.

Amirabdollahian arrived in Delhi on Wednesday for a four-day visit to India, his first-ever as foreign minister. He had a packed schedule on his first day, with meetings with NSA Doval and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar. He also called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The visit takes place in the backdrop of the diplomatic fallout from the remarks made by two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. At least 20 Islamic countries and multilateral bodies issued statements condemning the remarks. Iran was among eight nations that also summoned their Indian ambassador to the foreign office to receive the demarche.

The Iranian foreign ministry issued a detailed readout on Amirabdollahian’s meeting with NSA Doval, where the visitor raised the matter.

As per the Iranian press release, Doval mentioned “in response to the emphases and proposal by the Iranian side” that the “offenders will be dealt with, at the government and related bodies levels, in such a way that others will learn a lesson”.

Since the Indian government’s official readout is silent on this topic, it is not clear what governmental action Doval has reportedly conveyed to his Iranian interlocutors.

The MEA briefing on Thursday, June 9 was also a bit confusing. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi claimed that there was no mention about the ‘prophet remarks’ during the visitor’s meeting with external affairs minister. The Iranians had also never stated that the matter was discussed by the foreign ministers.

When asked specifically about the meeting with the NSA, Bagchi said that the readout had been pulled out from the Iranian foreign minister. However, he refused to engage further on whether it meant a denial that Doval had given assurances to the Iranian delegation.

There was no text on the pages for the English and Persian language versions of the press release uploaded on the Iranian foreign ministry’s website. Moreover, there was no announcement from Iran that the readout had been withdrawn.

Iran’s state-run official news agency, IRNA, had also reported about Amirabdollahian’s meeting with NSA Doval as per the MFA press note. It continues to be live on IRNA’s website.

The Iranians uploaded a revised press release about meeting between Abdollahian and Doval on the Iran government website. It had removed most of the earlier claimed remarks of Doval which had been in the original press note of the MFA. Yet, it still added that the NSA had given assurances.

“Referring to the negative atmosphere created by some people in disrespecting the holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH), he reiterated the respect of the Indian government and officials for the Holy Prophet (PBUH), saying that it will be treated as a lesson for others,” said the new Iranian readout.

The original Iranian press note also said that the foreign minister appreciated the “Indian people and government for their respect for the divine faiths, especially the Prophet Muhammad and also for the religious tolerance, historical co-existence and friendship among followers of various religions in the country.”

Thereafter, he asked for the Indian government to give “serious attention to the sensitivities of Muslims regarding their religious sanctities”. The Iranian foreign minister also stated that “Muslims are satisfied with the stance of Indian officials in dealing with the culprits,” according to the press release.

Stating that Iran had “no limits” in expanding ties with India, Amirabdollahian said that defence and security cooperation should be strengthened and “all possibilities be used to fight terrorism at the bilateral and regional levels and also to help the people of Afghanistan”.

Jaishankar appreciated the Iranian government for facilitating the supply of Indian COVID-19 vaccines to Afghan nationals residing in Iran.

Also read: India Plays Down First Official Visit to Afghanistan; ‘Sign of Good Beginning,’ Says Taliban

Alluding that Western sanctions should not impede India’s ties with Iran, the Iranian foreign minister also stated there is “huge” potential for expanding cooperation, “irrespective of third parties and opposing factors”.

While India did not release a readout on the meeting with the NSA, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a press release on the visiting foreign minister’s meeting with his counterpart.

On Afghanistan, the two ministers agreed that the country requires immediate humanitarian assistance and reiterated the need for “a representative and inclusive political system”, as per the MEA note.

Besides, they reviewed progress on progress made at Chahabar port and agreed to continue cooperating on its development.

Along with discussions on the Ukraine conflict and its consequences, the Iranian foreign minister briefed Jaishankar on the Iranian nuclear deal.

Later, foreign minister Amirabdollahian called on Prime Minister Modi, who recalled “the long-standing civilizational and cultural links between India and Iran”.

“Prime Minister requested the Iran Foreign Minister to also transmit his greetings to His Excellency President Ebrahim Raisi, and looked forward to meeting the President of Iran at an early date,” said the MEA press release.

This article has been updated with the revised Iranian press release and the MEA spokespersons statement.

Jaishankar, Iran FM Javed Zarif Discuss Challenges Posed by COVID-19 Outbreak

Iran’s foreign ministry said that the two leaders also discussed the latest political developments in Afghanistan.

New Delhi: External affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday discussed the challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak and other regional developments.

“Welcomed a call from FM @JZarif of Iran. Discussed respective responses to the #Coronavirus challenge. Also exchanged views on regional developments,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

Also read: On Request of Kuwaiti Govt, India Sends Rapid Response Team to Combat Coronavirus

Iran’s foreign ministry, in a tweet, said the two leaders also discussed the latest political developments in Afghanistan, especially the peace process in the country, during their telephonic conversation.

“They also exchanged views on the latest situation of COVID-19 outbreak in the region and the world as well as the collective ways to cope with it and illegal and unilateral US sanctions against the Iranian nation,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.

Iran has recorded about 73,000 coronavirus cases with over 4,500 deaths.

‘If We Have a Trump Deal, How Long Will It Last’: Iran’s Foreign Minister

At the Raisina Dialogue 2020 in New Delhi, Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif said his country was interested in diplomacy but not in negotiating with the US.

New Delhi: Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif on Wednesday said his country was interested in diplomacy but not in negotiating with the US, remarks that come amidst spiralling tensions between the two countries over the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

Hitting out at the US, Zarif said Soleimani’s killing showed ignorance and arrogance.

Addressing the gathering at the Raisina Dialogue, he said 430 Indian cities saw protests against Soleimani’s killing.

“Iran is interested in diplomacy. We are not interested in negotiating with the US. US did not keep its commitments under the nuclear deal. We had a US deal and US broke it. If we have a Trump deal, how long will it last?” Zarif said.

“We need to create hope in the region. We have to get rid of despair,” he said.

Iran incurred hundreds of billions of dollars in damages because of current tensions, Zarif said.

He said Soleimani was the single biggest threat to ISIS and his killing was now being celebrated by the terror group and US President Donald Trump.

Also read: US Lawmakers Back Limits to Trump’s War Powers After Soleimani Killing

Referring to the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed earlier this week killing all 176 aboard, Zarif said shooting down of the civilian plane was a mistake.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has acknowledged that it accidentally shot down the Ukrainian aircraft.

Zarif’s remarks come amidst the global focus being on Iran and the US over the confrontation between them following Soleimani”s killing.

Maj Gen Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite al-Quds force, was killed when a US drone fired missiles on his convoy in Iraq on January 3.

Also read: Informants in Iraq, Syria Helped US Kill Qassem Soleimani

Last week, Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces are stationed in Iraq.

Soleimani’s killing has been the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the US.

After Javad Zarif’s Exit, Where Does Iran Stand?

The foreign minister’s departure shows that the Iranian political and religious nomenclature must make drastic changes in domestic and foreign policies if it hopes to escape a possible collapse of the system.

The unpredicted resignation of Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, announced on his Instagram account, comes as a defeat for the supporters of dialogue in Iranian diplomacy and a victory for the hardliners in Tehran. Zarif will certainly be remembered by many as the architect of the landmark nuclear deal of 2015.

Zarif expressed his gratitude “to the dear and honorable Iranian people for the last 67 months” while apologising for all the shortcomings during his service. Zarif’s resignation coincides with the Syrian president’s visit to Iran at a time when both Assad’s regime and the Islamic Republic of Iran are under political and economic pressures from the West.

By meeting with the Syrian leader, Iranian authorities continue insisting on the military role of Iran in Syria in the face of new developments in the region. While the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has saluted his recent trilateral meeting in Sochi with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Iranian hawks seemed worried about Turkey’s intention to create a “safe zone” at Syria’s northeastern border.

For the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Erdogan’s decision to interfere in Syrian policymaking is nothing but an American “plot” which needs be “firmly rejected and opposed.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Credit: Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo

Iran’s worries about Syria comes as a surprise, especially because after Donald Trump declared that he was pulling US forces out of the region, nearly all commentators declared that Iran would be one of the major – if not the sole – beneficiary of the move.

This was true even in the past. Iran benefited both politically and strategically from the US military actions in the Middle East and West Asia after the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iran-Syria relations since the 1980s have been unequal and mostly in favour of Syria.

Also read: Trump’s Syria Exit May Fuel Greater Tension Between Israel, Iran

Let us not forget that Syria fought against Iranian influence in Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s. Also, the Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad did not consult his Iranian allies when he decided to participate at the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference on the Golan Heights. But today, as it is usual with the complexities of diplomatic relations in the Middle East, President Bashar al-Assad finds himself under growing pressure to distance himself from Iran in order to reduce tensions with Arab countries of the region.

This shows the limits of Iran’s influence over Arab politics and also up to what point Iran’s foreign policy is fragile, especially at a time that Zarif is leaving the house.

This said, the US and Israel continue to have real worries about Iran securing most of its war goals in Syria. From their perspective, by doing so, Iran is ready to shift its objectives toward establishing a stronger presence in Lebanon while upgrading Hezbollah’s fire precision and effectiveness against Israel.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Credit: Reuters

After Israeli attacks against Iranian military installations in Syria, Tehran began moving some of these activities into Lebanon, knowing that Israeli strikes would be more complicated there due to the escalation potential. Nevertheless, Israel and several Arab countries in the region including Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE have started acknowledging openly their behind-the-scenes ties and their strategic cooperation on weakening Iran.

On February 13 and 14, officials from over 60 governments gathered in Warsaw to strengthen the international coalition to confront Iran on issues – notably missile development and destabilising regional policies. Though European countries, particularly Britain, France and Germany, unmistakably distanced themselves from the Warsaw agenda, anxieties over Iran’s Middle Eastern activities and ambitions are largely shared by Israel and Gulf Arab countries.

Also read: 40 Years After the Revolution, All Eyes Are on Iran Again

The Trump administration has hoped that this shared view on Iranian threat could form the basis of a new strategic mapping in the Middle East. But despite almost complete agreement on Iran as the paramount regional menace, Israel and the Gulf Arab countries have to deal with the absence of both Qatar and Turkey that reinforces the impression that a third camp of Middle Eastern countries, which is oriented toward Sunni Islam is developing. Last but not least, the absence of both Russia and China at the Warsaw conference was a reminder that Tehran continues to have significant international support.

But despite the efforts made by the Israeli prime minister at the Warsaw conference in advancing Israel’s campaign against Iran in coordination with both Washington and Arab countries, the stage seems set for a series of proxy wars in the Middle East rather than a direct war against Iran to which the Warsaw conference aspired.

Nonetheless, with the deterioration of Iran’s economic, political and strategic situation and the dismantlement of the camp of moderate policy makers (like Javad Zarif) in Tehran, the country’s efforts to cushion the effects of the US sanctions have not been successful.

No doubt, Zari’s departure shows once again, that the Iranian political and religious nomenclature must make some drastic changes in its system of government and domestic and foreign policies if it hopes to escape a possible collapse of the system.

Ramin Jahanbegloo is the director of the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Peace at Jindal Global University.

Europe Must Offset US Pullout From Nuclear Deal, Says Iran Foreign Minister

EU officials strongly oppose the May decision by the US to withdraw from the nuclear agreement and have sought to salvage the deal in some form.

Berlin: Europe should take action to neutralise the consequences of the US decision to quit a 2015 Iran nuclear accord to ensure its own long-term economic interests, Iran’s foreign minister said in an interview published on Saturday.

Mohammed Javad Zarif told Germany’s Der Spiegel news magazine that Iran could “reduce its implementation” of the agreement and possibly increase uranium enrichment activities if the nuclear agreement was jeopardised by “the actions of the Americans and the passivity of the Europeans.”

“The Europeans and other signatories must act to offset the consequences of the US sanctions,” Zarif told the magazine, calling a package of measures drafted by Europe an important step that should now be implemented.

“What is paramount: Europe should do so not for Iran, but for its own sovereign and long-term economic interests.”

EU officials strongly oppose the May decision by the US to withdraw from the nuclear agreement and have sought to salvage the deal in some form.

Germany on Friday said it was considering setting up a payment system with its European partners that would allow continued business transactions with Iran once US sanctions kick in.

However, German officials concede privately that such a system would not prevent big companies that rely on US exports to escape US sanctions if they continue to sell to Iran.

Zarif said Tehran’s biggest priority was to continue to sell a reasonable amount oil worldwide and return the proceeds to Iran, as well encouraging investment and cooperation in areas such as technology and research.

“Europe said the nuclear agreement was in its security interest. Then Europe must be ready to pay for its security,” Zarif said. “Nothing is for free.”

He said Europe should be “ready to pay for its security” by implementing a EU “blocking agreement” under which it can punish European firms for withdrawing from Iranian business deals to avoid US sanctions.

“The question is whether European wants its companies to follow European laws or American ones, or whether it will submit to the American dictates,” Zarif said.

He said Iran had options to act if Europe failed to act to compensate Iran for the US sanctions.

“We do not necessarily have to cancel (the agreement). Article 36 of the agreement and Security Resolution 2231 make it possible to reduce implementation, without cancelling it,” he said.

Asked if Iran could resume increased enrichment of uranium, he said, “That would be one of the possibilities.”

Zarif said Tehran would not “waste its time” on additional negotiations with the United States about Iran’s behaviour in the region unless Washington rescinded its decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement.

“Only when Europe ensures that (the agreement) is implemented can Iran see if the attempt should be made to talk about other issues,” he said.

(Reuters)