Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], August 20: Tehran will not hold any kind of meetings with President Donald Trump administration unless the United States drops its “economic terrorism” against Iran and its people, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday said during the latest diplomatic event held in Malaysia.
Interacting with reporters at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Kuala Lumpur, Zarif said, “The United States is engaged in economic war against the Iranian people. It won’t be possible for us to engage with US unless they stop imposing a war, engaging in economic terrorism.”
Giving reference to the landmark 2015 International Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty inked between world powers and Tehran to curb the Iranian nuclear programme, from which Trump withdrew America, Zarif said, “If they want to come back to the room, there is a ticket, and that ticket is to observe the agreement..”
He said Tehran doesn’t seek to “meet for the sake of meeting”, adding, “The basic principle of the civilized world is that you do not negotiate with terrorists.”
Zarif said if the US wants to negotiate then they would have to abandon terrorism, according to Al-Jazeera news reports.
Iran has no willingness to hold dialogues with the US unless all imposed sanctions are lifted, President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday said a day after President Donald Trump stated he would hold talks with the Iranian leader to put an end to a nuclear confrontation.
“But first the US should act by lifting all illegal, unjust and unfair sanctions imposed on Iran,” Rouhani said. He added, “We will continue to scale back our commitments under the 2015 deal if our interests are not guaranteed,” according to Dawn news reports.