Zarif urges more Iran-France political talks

EghtesadOnline: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called for the continuation of political negotiations between Iran and France.

News ID: ۷۴۲۵۰۶

04 July 2017

In a meeting with Christian Masset, secretary general of the French foreign affairs ministry, in Tehran on Monday, Zarif expressed hope that both sides would take steps to boost cooperation.

“Frequent bilateral meetings will remove the obstacles in the way of the two countries’ relations, particularly the economic obstacles,” PressTV quoted him as saying.

The top Iranian diplomat also pointed to the latest developments in the Middle East and expressed the country’s readiness to dispatch humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.

“As Iran seeks a political solution to the existing problems in Syria, it welcomes any initiative by the French government to find a political solution to the current conflict in Syria,” Zarif said.

Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored militant and terrorist groups since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated last August that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then.

Considerable increase in Iran-France economic ties

For his part, the French foreign ministry official said Tehran and Paris have managed to increase their economic relations after the implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the mammoth agreement in July 2015 and started implementing it in January 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.

Masset said France’s stance is to fully implement the JCPOA and added that his country seeks to remove obstacles in the way of expansion of relations and develop appropriate strategies to continue cooperation with Iran.