President Hassan Rouhani will attend the United.ons General Assembly later this month, a senior official said Monday, denying reports of disagreement within the administration over the issue.
"There is no difference of opinion between the Foreign Ministry and the president or between Mr. Zarif and Mr. Rouhani," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi told a press briefing in Tehran, ISNA reported.
He was asked if there is a lack of consensus between the president and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on who should represent Iran at the annual gathering of world leaders in New York.
Qasemi said the president's attendance will provide Iran a "significant opportunity" to reiterate its policies and views through diplomatic means.
Asked who will represent the country at the UN Security Council meeting on Iran that will be chaired by President Donald Trump, he said it is being studied and no final decision has been made.
Trump, whose country holds the council presidency for September, is scheduled to chair the Iran meeting on September 26—the high-level week of the UN General Assembly—to spotlight Tehran’s alleged "violations of international law".
Meeting With Abe
On whether Rouhani would meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the assembly, Qasemi said, "There is a possibility that they will meet. Iran's mission to the UN is arranging the president's meetings" with world leaders.
Citing a government source, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday that Abe is planning to hold talks with Rouhani in New York.
The US pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement in May and has been calling for a halt to oil imports from Iran by November 4. It says it will punish countries that continue to do business with Tehran and buy its oil.
Japan hopes to maintain ties with Iran, on which it partly depends for crude oil imports, and has been asking for a waiver during negotiations with the US but has faced difficulties securing an exemption.
Zarif-Kerry Talks
Asked about the meetings between Zarif and former US secretary of state John Kerry after the end of the latter's tenure, Qasemi said those meetings are were “not official" as Kerry was not in an official capacity at the time.
Kerry, who served under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal, said in a recent radio interview with Fox News that he had met with Iran's chief diplomat "three or four times" since his term ended in January 2017, drawing fierce criticism from Trump and his close aides.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said that that is an internal issue within the US government and has nothing to do with Iran.
Saving the Nuclear Deal
Asked if any progress has been made in talks with Europe aimed at salvaging the nuclear accord, Qasemi said, "I believe we to some extent are on the right path. Our talks with the Europeans will continue."
He expressed the hope that a potential meeting between representatives of the remaining signatories of the landmark deal on the sidelines of UNGA would produce the desired results.
Quoting a diplomatic source, TASS news agency reported that Iran, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany will hold a ministerial meeting in New York on September 24 that will be attended by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
