Recently, US based "Politico" reported on Iranian Foreign Minister M.J. Zarif's meeting with Dianne Feinstein, the well-known American Democrat Senator during his recent visit to New York.
"Alireza Miryousefi", spokesman of Iran Mission to the United Nation said that "The visit was in accordance with the usual process of the meetings that Iran holds with the Senate representatives."
Concerning this visit "Seyyed Abbas Mousavi", the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign affairs also stated, "Visiting and negotiating are two separate issues and this visit cannot be seen as a negotiation. We do not consider the members of the Senate as the US administration. In addition, the members of the US administration do not have permission to do it either. Currently, Iran does not have any plans to negotiate with the officials of the US administration."
Recently, Senator Dianne Feinstein said, "To solve a problem that everyone wants to be solved there is no need to war."
In an interview with Dianne Feinstein, Mehr News agency asked some questions about the visit, reasons behind it and the main subjects raised during it, and about whether the Iranian Foreign Ministry had requested for the meeting or not. Trump's hostile policy toward Iran, US withdrawal from the JCPOA also were disscused in the Interview with the democratic senator.
Dianne Feinstein is "California" Senator and a senior member of the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary and former chief of the Senate intelligence committee. She is considered one of the influential senators of the Democrat party.
In answer to the following questions she told the Mehr News agency:
“Since taking office, President Trump has adopted highly confrontational policies toward Iran. To my strong disappointment, on May 8, 2018, the President announced that he will withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement by re-imposing sanctions previously lifted by the agreement, even though the U.S. Intelligence Community believes that Iran has complied with its treaty obligations. On April 8, 2019, President Trump also designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—an arm of the Iranian government—as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). This marks the first time a government entity has been designated as an FTO, and has the potential to significantly increase tensions with Iran.
While I firmly believe that Iran’s government should be held accountable for its sponsorship of terror, regional aggression, illegal detention of dual U.S.-Iranian nationals, and repression of its own citizens, the Trump administration’s go-it-alone policy toward Iran has alienated us from our key allies and raised the possibility of sparking another conflict in the Middle East. In fact, on May 8, 2019, Iranian President Rouhani announced that Iran would begin to halt its compliance with portions of the nuclear agreement.
I share your concerns about the Trump administration’s actions and policies toward Iran, which is why I am an original cosponsor of the “Prevention of the Unconstitutional War with Iran Act of 2019” (S. 1039) introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) on April 4, 2019. This bill would prevent the President from using force against Iran without explicit congressional authorization to do so. S. 1039 currently awaits consideration by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, of which I am not a member.
I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to monitor the Trump administration’s increasingly hostile actions toward Iran.”
Interview by Javad Heiran-Nia & Elnaz Safavi
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