Mohammad Javad Zarif and United Nations General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft met in New York on Wednesday to discuss the ways of realizing the important objectives of the international community by the UN centrality.
Zarif underlined that fighting terrorism and extremism is a foreign policy priority for Islamic Republic of Iran; “devising an action plan for realization of the ideals of the World against Violence and Extremism proposed by President Rouhani and approved by the UNGA two years ago is in the agenda for the UNGA,” he added.
On a question posed by Mr. Lykketoft about Syrian crisis, Zarif told him that only political solution for Syrian crisis would be effective; “the Islamic Republic of Iran has proposed a plan which if approved by all sides, would keep hopes in solving the crisis; we believe that excluding any regional player from the peace process would only contribute to unnecessary extension of the crisis further,” he asserted.
“Iran do not want to exclude any country from the peace process and firmly believes that all parties should participate in the solution to the crisis,” Zarif told the UNGA president.
Lekkytoft, for his part, congratulated Iran on hitting the JCPOA with 5+1, and added that setting a timetable for realization of development objectives foreseen in the post-2015 development agenda by 2030, and drafting national action plans by member states was crucial in attaining the common objectives. He also demanded that Islamic Republic of Iran help in implementing UN programs.
Lekkytoft also emphasized on using political solutions and democratic means of ruling the affected countries in the Middle East crises.