Tehran dismisses reports of possible talks with the EU over the recent unrests

Tabnak – While some reports published recently had suggested that Iran’s foreign minister would meet high-ranking European officials to discuss the recent unrests in some Iranian cities, Tehran has rejected the reports, declaring that the upcoming discussions will just focus on the nuclear issue.  

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is due in Brussels later this week for talks with the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, as well as his British, German and French counterparts.

“This meeting will be held at the invitation of Ms. Mogherini, and is only meant to review the process of implementing the JCPOA,” said Qassemi, using an acronym for the nuclear deal officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

He was reacting to a foreign media fanfare created over Mogherini’s invitation, which claimed the EU was planning the meeting to address the riots in Iran. “This meeting has been associated with Iran's internal affairs with vicious intentions,” Qassemi said.

Earlier in the day, Zarif himself commented on the claims in media reports, saying, “Some media outlets, especially Israeli ones, tried to fabricate news in this regard. Such news fabrication is baseless and unfounded."

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the 2nd Tehran Security Conference 2018, he stressed significance of the nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers. Zarif said that the consultative meeting will be held to deal with US destructive policies regarding the JCPOA.

Iranian minister of foreign affairs added that some countries are trying to misuse the protests in Iran. “People of Iran, unlike some their regional neighbors, enjoy the right of criticizing and protesting… Of course, protesting and criticizing peacefully is different from violence,” he added.

Saying that the Iranian people showed that they consider protest a right, but don’t accept violence, Zarif said, “The Americans tried to misuse the moves; we saw that they were driven to isolation, despite pressing the UN Security Council.” 

In a Friday meeting of UNSC, Washington failed to spur the Council to act against Iran over the recent protests in the country, as most members described it as an internal issue outside the purview of the UNSC and voiced support for the JCPOA.

Following the UNSC meeting, a report was published in some western media, suggesting that he European Union would invite Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks over the recent riots in country.

The rumors in this regard started to spread after Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said during a televised broadcast on ZDF, “"Together with the EU's Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, we agreed to invite the Iranian foreign minister, if possible next week.”

While noting that Germany supports freedom of demonstration, Gabriel stressed that Berlin will not follow the lead of US President Donald Trump, who vowed to support protesters in Iran. Germany and France have "warned against attempts at instrumentalizing the domestic conflicts in Iran," he added.