Speaking to reporters at his weekly press conference on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi talked about the first joint commission between Iran and the 5+1 groups of countries after Donald Trump took office, adding “many issues were raised at the meeting on April 25, and Iran voiced its dissatisfaction over US violations of commitments under the nuclear deal and the remarks made by President Trump against Iran that may have some adverse consequences for the country.”
Ghasemi went on to add that the Commission’s members hailed Iran for adhering to its JCPOA commitments, and voiced his satisfaction over the meeting’s communiqué.
“All sides of the Commission were in consensus at the progress of implementing the nuclear deal. They backed the reconstruction of Arak reactor with China’s cooperation,” he said.
“There is no level of ties between Iran and the US,” Ghasemi stressed. “We have no negotiations with them outside the issue of the nuclear deal. Our talks with the US for the release of prisoners were done for humanitarian reasons and even that was done with the US previous government.”
About the progress made on the case of Saudi embassy raids last January, Ghasemi expressed hope that the case would one day be closed with the actual perpetrators identified and appropriately punished. He admitted that a part of conflicts in Iran-Saudi Arabia current relations was raised after this ill-considered attack.
“If Saudi Arabia remedies its behavior and discourse, we can have hope for re-establishing ties with them. I hope that we can have better ties all Arab states in the Persian Gulf which can boost security and stability in the region,” he added.
To a question about the assassination of an Iranian owner of a Farsi-language satellite TV in Turkey, Ghasemi said he has no further information on the case. “The incident is being pursued via diplomatic channels and we have officially called on the Turkish government to promptly inform us of the results of their investigations,” he added.
Ghasemi then referred to the recent terrorist attack on the frontier with Pakistan at Mirjaveh in Sistan-Baluchestan province, in which Paksitani Takfiri militants killed 10 Iranian border guards, expressing regret over the fact that a country which considers itself a member of anti-terrorism coalition has given its lands to terrorists for whatever reason. “We hope that our borders with Pakistan will become more secure and stable and different from the situation at Pakistan’s borders with its other neighboring countries,” he said.
“We are pursuing this case on a massive scale at the Foreign Ministry and other relevant organizations and will take every measure to defend the rights of our dear, martyred border guards,” he added.
Ghasemi was asked about Iranians’ inability to vote in the upcoming presidential election in Canada; “if Iran and Canada fail to reach an understanding in regard to settling this issue, the Iranian nationals in Canada will not be able to vote.”
About claims of certain Turkish media on the arrest of an Iranian national in that country, Ghasemi refused to either confirm or deny the claim. “We are looking into it,” he said.
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