Iran's Zarif sanctioned after declining Trump meet: officials
Source: MSN News
The New Yorker magazine reported on Friday that Senator Rand Paul met Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the US on July 15 and had Trump's blessing when he extended an invitation to the Iranian minister to go to the White House. Officials in Iran confirmed the report on Sunday, heaping scorn on the Trump administration for claiming to want dialogue with Iran while (at the same time) slapping sanctions on its top diplomat.
"For a government to constantly claim (to favour) negotiations and afterwards sanction the foreign minister... if this is not ridiculous, then what is it?" said foreign ministry spokesman Ali Rabiei. "In a meeting with a senator, he (Zarif) is invited to come to a meeting and then he is sanctioned," Rabiei said in remarks aired on state television.
Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the invitation and sanctions amounted to a failure of US diplomacy. "Imposing sanctions on the honourable foreign minister of Iran after his refusal of Trump's proposal for face-to-face talks with him showed the 'maximum pressure' train has stopped at the 'failure station'," he said in a statement quoted by ISNA news agency.
Zarif said he would not want a White House meeting that yielded just a photo opportunity and a two page statement afterwards.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/irans-zarif-sanctioned-after-declining-trump-meet-officials/ar-AAFjK7W
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was hit with US sanctions after turning down an invitation to meet President Donald Trump, officials in the Islamic republic said on Sunday.
= new reply since forum marked as read
