Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani struck a conciliatory tone after his foreign minister Mohammed Zarif visited the G7 in Biarritz to discuss salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal, telling an event in Tehran that the country was willing to “give diplomacy a chance.”
Rouhani said that while Iran was prepared to restart its nuclear programme in retaliation for the U.S. re-introducing sanctions on the country, it was doing so slowly “to give a chance to diplomacy.”
“We should do our job and take action. Even if the odds of success are not 90%, but are 20 or 10%, we must move ahead with it. We should not miss opportunities,” Rouhani said.
His comments came after Zarif visited Paris and later Biarritz, holding talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and briefing representatives of the British and German governments. Zarif described the discussions as “constructive.”
Iran's active diplomacy in pursuit of constructive engagement continues.
Met @EmmanuelMacron on sidelines of #G7Biarritz after extensive talks with @JY_LeDrian & Finance Min. followed by a joint briefing for UK/Germany.
Road ahead is difficult. But worth trying. pic.twitter.com/oXdACvt20T
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 25, 2019
Speaking to Euronews last week, Zarif said that he was happy that Macron had taken the lead in trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, a flagship of former President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, which President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.
“President Macron has been trying to do his best,” he said. “Our partners in Europe have to make a decision, not about Iran but about how they want to deal with the US — whether they want to have independence or whether the US can impose its will.”
Although Iran recently began work on its uranium enrichment programme – halted under the terms of the 2015 deal – Zarif said that the work was reversible. This was echoed by Rouhani on Sunday, with the president saying that Iran was moving deliberately slowly.
“We are also adopting retaliatory measures; we are reducing our commitments [to JCPOA]. While we have reduced commitments in two stages so far and may introduce another cut in the future but we always put two months of time in between to give a chance to diplomacy,” he said.
“We should use power – economic, cultural, and military power – and also use political power, and we should talk and reduce problems,” he said.
It is not clear whether the U.S. was informed that Zarif had been invited to Biarritz, but three officials told CNBCthat the Trump team had been “blindsided” by the move. When Trump was asked about the visit by reporters, he declined to comment, which is also somewhat out of character.