Iran's Foreign Minister: Prolonging nuclear talks benefits no one

On February 8, US Secretary of State John Kerry had a surprise meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to conduct new discussions on Iran's nuclear program on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Germany.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Photo: nypost.com

This is the second meeting of the two foreign ministers during their stay in Munich.

Details of the two diplomats' roughly 90-minute discussion have not been released.

However, speaking after the meeting, Iran's Foreign Minister said that continuing to extend the nuclear negotiations deadline is useless and does not benefit anyone.

Mr. Zarif declined to discuss the details of the meeting, only saying that the discussions were serious. The Iranian diplomat affirmed that he and his partners were working to reach an agreement as soon as possible, but also acknowledged that there was great suspicion between Iran and the United States.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said: "I do not believe that further extension of the nuclear talks will benefit any party, so I also do not think that further extension of the talks is necessary or useful."

Meanwhile, on the same day, speaking at a meeting with Iranian air force generals, the country's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated that no agreement is better than an agreement that affects the country's interests.

The back-to-back meetings between the US and Iranian foreign ministers come ahead of the next round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, France, the US, Russia, China – plus Germany, which will also be held on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. After missing two previous deadlines, the P5+1 have set a deadline of the end of March for a political agreement, followed by a final agreement by June 30.

The two foreign ministers have met several times before, mostly in European cities, in the hope of reaching a framework agreement before the deadline. However, both are under pressure from hardliners at home, with US lawmakers threatening to announce a new round of sanctions against Iran after March 2015.

According to VOV/Reuters