Zarif Refers to Global Powers: Our Areas of Disagreement Will Remain

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, stated that Iran's "fundamental" and "principled" disagreements with the U.S. and the West "will remain" and were not intended to be resolved in negotiations between Iran and the West. According to IRNA, Mr. Zarif made this statement on Sunday (June 13) while presenting a report to representatives in the open session of the Parliament. Zarif referred to the results of Iran's nuclear negotiations with the 1+5 group and said, "It was not our agreement to resolve our fundamental and principled disagreements with others." He emphasized that "we had neither the intention to negotiate in these areas nor the readiness to enter discussions in this regard, so those areas will remain our points of disagreement." The Iranian Foreign Minister explained that "our agreement was to stop the illegal interventions of the Americans in our communications with the rest of the world." Zarif's recent remarks about not resolving other disagreements with the West come at a time when both he and President Hassan Rouhani had previously emphasized the need to use the nuclear agreement as a model for resolving other disputes with global powers; however, this was met with objections from Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Khamenei had recently stated that "the opposing side does not consider the resolution of the nuclear issue sufficient" and wants to imply that "more agreements like the JCPOA must be created for us to live comfortably." Zarif further referred to what he called the "insincerity" of the U.S., stating, "We have not forgotten the obstacles, oppositions, sabotage, and mischief." He added that "we were not supposed to negotiate with the U.S. in the nuclear talks and lift the sanctions on American companies." The Iranian Foreign Minister continued that Rouhani's government has been successful in this regard, and today, "the Americans are escaping the accusation that they continue sanctions against Iran." Rouhani, Zarif, and some other officials of the eleventh government have repeatedly spoken about the "breaking of the sanctions regime" before and after signing the JCPOA agreement. Zarif: We should not make excuses. On Sunday, the Iranian Foreign Minister continued his remarks by referring to various areas of disagreement between Iran and global powers, saying, "We had neither the intention to negotiate in these areas nor the readiness to enter discussions in this regard, so those areas will remain our points of disagreement, and our collective effort is to maintain our principles, views, and the foundations of the Islamic Republic that have made our people so dignified, respected, and powerful in the world, while preserving these foundations, we should eliminate excuses. We should not make excuses. We should not create an environment for excuses." Officials of Rouhani's government have repeatedly implied that missile tests and some actions of the IRGC have provided a basis for creating "excuses" for the West against the Islamic Republic since the signing of the JCPOA agreement. Some commanders of the IRGC have also attacked the eleventh government and American officials, stating that the missile tests of this military force have no connection with the "JCPOA" and the U.S. Masoud Jazayeri, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, in response to John Kerry's remarks about the possibility of negotiations to resolve other disputes between Tehran and the international community, including the issue of ballistic missile tests, stated that "the Americans are dreaming of a series of JCPOAs," including in the area of "diminishing defensive sovereignty and weakening the missile power" of the Islamic Republic. On Sunday, Zarif continued in another part of his speech: "In non-nuclear areas, no new sanctions have been added, but new individuals have been added to the list, which is only in the missile area, and we have responded to them. We did not negotiate with the Western side in the missile area." He emphasized that "so far, appropriate reciprocal actions have been taken in the missile area at the direction of the President," but did not provide further explanation regarding this "reciprocal action." Zarif: $8 billion of Iran's oil claims have been collected. According to IRNA, Mr. Zarif, while continuing his report on the implementation of the JCPOA and foreign investments to the tenth Parliament, added: "7 agreements in 5 months compared to 60 agreements in 38 years of the Islamic Republic and before that. These are realities that we must showcase to the world." He further stated that "so far, $3.6 billion of foreign direct investment has been approved and registered in Iran," and "the insurance of oil tankers has been resolved." Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday during his speech in the Islamic Consultative Assembly that $8 billion of Iran's oil claims have been received after the implementation of the nuclear agreement. Mr. Zarif stated that $5 billion from an Emirati company, $2 billion from Shell, and $1 billion from India have been received, and another $5 billion is expected to be received from India. The Iranian Foreign Minister continued, saying that "the Saudi government, with all its brutality and ruthlessness, managed to swallow a large portion of our oil markets in the world. Today, thanks to God, we have managed to increase oil exports from below 900,000 barrels to 2 million barrels, and our condensate exports are currently 300,000 barrels." He concluded by saying that "all reputable international companies are flocking to Iran."