Iran's Nuclear File Once Again Brings Mohammad Javad Zarif to Parliament

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, defended his performance in nuclear negotiations during his presence in the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Tuesday, January 6, assuring conservative members of parliament that the Iranian negotiating team is not pursuing its political and factional goals in these negotiations. According to the news site Khabar Online and ISNA news agency, Mr. Zarif, responding to questions from Javad Karimi Qoddusi and criticisms from this representative regarding the nuclear negotiations, stated: "I firmly believe that politicizing foreign policy is a point of no return for its failure, and sacrificing national interests for factional and political goals is an unforgivable sin." Karimi Qoddusi had asked the Foreign Minister why most of the nuclear negotiations were spent on bilateral talks with the United States and why the Iranian negotiating team did not counter the U.S. action regarding the expansion of the list of sanctioned individuals. Another question from him and several other representatives was about Zarif's note in the French newspaper Le Monde, where he criticized the Foreign Minister for stating that "if you do not come to terms with us and our government, the people of Iran will vote for an anti-Western faction in the next elections." However, Mr. Zarif responded to these questions by saying: "I assure you that the government and the negotiating team will not pursue any political or factional goals in the nuclear negotiations." He also defended the principle of nuclear negotiations, emphasizing that because of these negotiations, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has become "isolated in the world." According to him, today in nuclear negotiations, no one is discussing the principle of uranium enrichment in Iran or the closure of the Fordow site, and "the issue of enrichment has been established as a given reality for everyone." Mr. Zarif also stated: "Today, no sane person speaks of war with Iran, today no sane person talks about using all options on the table, and our entire policy in negotiations insists on the point that today our negotiating partners have realized that to reach an agreement with the Iranian nation, all oppressive sanctions must be lifted, and sanctions yield nothing but hatred." Mr. Zarif's responses convinced the majority of the members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, but Javad Karimi Qoddusi stated that he remained unconvinced. A range of conservatives close to the Iranian government oppose the current negotiations with global powers and label the Foreign Minister as "compromising." In this context, Zarif: Iran's nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 will resume on January 15, Iran considers the expansion of the U.S. sanctions list to be contrary to the Geneva agreement, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament: the vote of the representatives indicates complete trust in the diplomatic apparatus and the Iranian nuclear negotiating team.