Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied reports that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had notified his Iranian counterpart of Washington’s new strategy on Tehran.
“What Mr. Tillerson says goes back to his speech during the ministerial meeting of P5+1 [five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany] on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Apart from that, there have been no other meeting and talks between the foreign ministers of Iran and the US,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Friday, Press TV reported.
Earlier in the day, Reuters cited Tillerson as saying that during the September meeting at the UN, he had discussed with Zarif the possibility of negotiating a new agreement that would address Iran’s missile program and the nuclear deal’s “sunset clause”, which will put an end to restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program after a few years.
“I indicated this to Foreign Minister Zarif when we saw each other on the margins of the UN. I do not want to suggest to you that we give that a high chance of success, but there is an openness to talk about it,” Tillerson said.
US President Donald Trump officially announced on Friday that he would not certify Iran’s nuclear deal and laid out a more confrontational strategy toward Iran.
