Touching upon the visit of British Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa, Alistair Burt, who is currently in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran has periodic meetings and dialogue with different countries, including the UK.
The Iranian diplomatic chief made the remarks on Saturday on the sidelines of a ceremony during which he and Iranian Health Minister Ghazizadeh Hashemi signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two ministries.
These periodic meetings are at the level of deputy foreign ministers and today this dialogue was held between Iran's Abbas Araghchi and UK's Alistair Burt, said Zarif.
The Iranian foreign minister said today's bilateral talks between the two sides was nothing out of the norm as Abbas Araghchi had visited the UK a few months ago.
When asked if the negotiations between Araghchi and Burt will lead to any improvement in banking and financial issues, Zarif underlined that the meetings follow their agenda and all of them are about bilateral issues and exchange of views on regional and international matters.
“One of the things that we are discussing with the British government, as one of the remaining signatories to the nuclear deal, is the implementation of the JCPOA and one of the most important areas of implementing the JCPOA is the banking access,” he added.
“The issue of oil sales will assuredly be brought up in the meeting and it was an area that the three European foreign ministers formerly voiced their commitment to in a joint letter with Ms. Mogherini and in the meetings of the joint commission of the JCPOA at the level of the foreign ministers,” said Zarif.
“They have offered numerous methods but what matters the most is that these proposals be put into practice,” asserted the Iranian top diplomat.
“It is necessary for the Europeans to act in addition to voicing their political commitment, and of course, actions may come with a price...and they need to pay the price and take practical measures as Iran has already done,” he reiterated.
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