Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program can be resolved if the parties involved in nuclear talks be seriously engaged in negotiation.
“If the other side has a real will to help resolve Iran’s nuclear issue, we can reach a conclusion in a short time,” Zarif said in a meeting with his North Korean counterpart Ri Su-yong in Tehran on Sunday, the Mehr news agency reported. Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) are scheduled to resume a new round of nuclear talks in New York on September 18 in pursuit of a long-term settlement to the dispute, which has dragged on for over a decade.
Iran is not ready to relinquish the people’s inalienable rights under pressure of unjust sanctions, Zarif said, adding the Islamic Republic will not allow Western countries to give a false picture of Tehran’s nuclear work. He said Iran is strongly opposed to the production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons by any country and has never been seeking to develop them due to its religious and political principles, adding Tehran believes all the countries which possess nuclear weapons must be disarmed.
In addition, he said the strictest sanctions in contemporary history have been imposed on Iran.
Elsewhere, Zarif pointed to Tehran-Pyongyang relations and said the government is ready to take measures to help enhance ties with North Korea. Iran’s private sector can play a key role to help boost commercial and economic relations between the two countries, he said.
The North Korean official, for his part, said the previous and current leaders of the East Asian country have attached high importance to relations with Tehran, adding his country is keen to increase economic cooperation with Iran.
North Korea wants the Iranian private sector to have presence in the country, he added.
