WarSclerotic

There is room for Iranian talks with the United States, but the U.S. first needs to “respect the outcome of the talks” the countries have previously held, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday.

Zarif was referring to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with major powers, from which U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew on May 8, restoring the full force of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Speaking at the annual Doha Forum, Zarif said that while Iran was feeling the economic pressure of the U.S. sanctions, this would not lead to policy change. He said Iran had survived U.S. sanctions “for the last 40 years” and “will survive for the next 40 years.”

Zarif also accused Saudi Arabia of trying to raise tensions in the Middle East, referring to the conflict in Yemen and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Muslim Iran are on opposite sides of several proxy wars in the Middle East.

Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who control the Yemen capital Sanaa and its main port Hodeidah, have been battling against a Saudi-led Arab coalition seeking to restore the government ousted in 2014.

Hodeidah has been the focus of fighting this year, raising global fears that a battle could cut off supply lines and lead to mass starvation. Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition have amassed on the city’s outskirts.

Zarif also said that Russia, Turkey and Iran could announce a Syrian constitutional committee with U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura before the end of this week.

As part of U.N.-mandated political reforms to end Syria’s war, the country’s constitution is supposed to be reformed and new elections held. However, Syria’s government has rejected U.N. involvement in picking the members of the committee to make the changes, and the process has gone nowhere since January.