Iranian FM: Tehran won’t attend nuclear talks if ‘Zionist regime’ present
Iranian FM: Tehran won’t attend nuclear talks if ‘Zionist regime’ present | The Times of Israel.
( Of course we can count on Obama/Kerry answering “They’re our allies. If you don’t talk to them you don’t talk to us.” Right? )
Ahead of expected negotiations with world powers on final agreement, Zarif says Israel ‘biggest danger to region and the world’
November 29, 2013, 5:34 pm
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (photo credit: AP/Craig Ruttle/File)
Iran will not attend nuclear talks if the “Zionist regime” participates, Iran’s foreign minister announced on Friday.
A report by the country’s official news agency IRNA quoted Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying that the Islamic Republic “would not attend a meeting in which the Quds [Jerusalem] occupying regime participates.”
“We consider the Zionist regime as the biggest danger to the region and the world,” Zarif told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), according to IRNA.
Following last weekend’s interim deal between Iran and six world powers, the two sides are set to start talks on a final agreement that would see Iran further curb its nuclear program in exchange for eased international sanctions.
The report said the foreign minister’s remarks came in response to possible Israeli participation in the expected talks. It did not elaborate on the source of the reports on Israel’s possible presence.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed the Geneva deal as a “historic mistake” and announced the dispatch to the US of his national security adviser to try to shape the final agreement with Iran. President Barack Obama and Netanyahu agreed on the dispatch of the Israeli team when they spoke on Sunday, not long after the Geneva deal was reached, so that Israel’s concerns would be made known to the US negotiators, but there was no public suggestion that Israel would have a direct role in any future negotiations with Iran.
“Definitely…we will not be in a room where the Zionist regimeˈs envoy is present,” Zarif promised.
He said instead of putting pressure on Iran, the world powers should try to push for regional disarmament, a reference to disarming Israel’s own alleged nuclear arsenal. Israel maintains a policy of ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying it possesses a nuclear arsenal.
Since the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought Islamist leaders to power, Iran does not recognize Israel and supports terror groups like Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. It’s leaders frequently speak of Israel’s inevitable demise. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei nine days ago called Israel the “rabid dog” of the region, and said its people “should not be called humans.”
Last weekend, in a meeting with world powers, Iran agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear program in return for the easing of Western sanctions.
Western powers and Israel worry Iran’s nuclear program could be used to build an atomic bomb. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like power generation and medical research.
Meanwhile, Iranian nuclear envoy Reza Najafi said the interim nuclear deal likely will start to be implemented at the end of next month or in early January. Najafi spoke Friday near the end of a two-day meeting of the United Nations nuclear agency, which will monitor the agreement reached in Geneva.
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WarSclerotic 
November 29, 2013 at 11:16 PM
Of course Israel’s absence from these talks is the elephant in the room.
How can one expect for the diplomats in Geneva to solve the problem with Iran while barring from the room not only Israel but also the other states in the region threatened by Iran?
At least with the North Korean talks (which also failed miserably), Japan and South Korea had a seat at the table!
November 30, 2013 at 2:45 AM
I am sure that Israel would not be present at the Geneva meeting because Obama would do anything in order not to piss off the Iranians, he likes them too much!
November 30, 2013 at 3:21 AM
What you amatures cant understand is that Obama and Company know damn well this agreement will be shattered by Iran. Then all the countries howling in protest against Israel and the US will realize that when we do bomb the daylights out of Iran nothing more could be done. You Obama haters need to put aside your hate for a second and realize exactly what is taking place here!
November 30, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Can you please tell us Obavez-hating amateurs how we could possibly know that this “agreement” will be shattered by Iran?
We can only know this if we know what’s in the’ agreement’.
So far neither the full text of the “agreement” nor any details have been published.
The factsheet given by the US desastministration has already been shown to be inaccurate or at least misleading and incomplete and the Iranians have already stated that what Obavez and Kerry are telling us is not what’s in the text.
So, maybe the Iranians are not shattering anything because these ‘limitations’ that we assume based on the ‘factsheet’ are not in the text of the ‘agreement’.
So, I’m looking forward to be enlightened by your professional insight and your impeccable insider information.
And could you please tell us who the ‘we’ is, that will bomb the daylights out of Iran?
In eager anticipation
Artaxes
November 30, 2013 at 12:42 PM
I do not like a lier and obolo is the biggest of them all ! as far as obolo bombing iran,I think that there is a greater chance that Santa Clause will bomb iran first . And what is taking place is that we are being sold down the river by obolo and we all end up glowing in the dark .