“While they know that Iran has pursued the path of peaceful nuclear technology and has accepted the (International Atomic Energy) Agency’s supervision, but they have acted against Iran’s nuclear case adventurously,” Larijani said, addressing the 9th Meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Tehran on Tuesday morning.
He hailed the Iranian nation for its resistance against the expansionist policies of the arrogant powers, and said, “The reality cannot be kept secret forever.”
Larinaji expressed the hope that the world powers which are in talks with Iran over its nuclear program “won’t make miscalculations again”, and said, “Iran will continue the path of negotiations wisely.”
His remarks came after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, at the head of a five-member team of senior negotiators, left Tehran for Vienna on Monday to start a fresh round of talks with the six major world powers (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) on Tuesday.
Zarif is accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi, Foreign Ministry Director-General for Political and International Affairs Hami Baeidinejad, Foreign Minister's Legal Adviser Davoud Mohammadnia and Director-General for Safeguards at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Amiri.
The Sextet will be represented by US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, British Foreign Office Political Director Simon Gass, French Foreign Ministry Political Director Jacques Audibert, German Foreign Ministry Advisor Hans-Dieter Lucas, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov and China’s representative Wang Min.
After Iran and the world powers struck a deal in November, Washington officials have been making increasing provocative remarks against Iran and the deal. US Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview in Geneva in January that the military option was still on the table if Iran did not live up to its nuclear commitments under the Geneva deal.
Also, addressing a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) on the nuclear deal with Iran, Sherman promised that Iran’s ballistic missile work would be addressed at a later time in a final agreement. “We see this as a first step,” she said. “We don’t consider the gaps that exist loopholes because this is not a final agreement. This is a first step.”
In response, Araqchi, who is also a senior negotiator in the talks with the six world powers, stressed, “The defense-related issues are a red line for Iran."
“We will not allow such issues to be discussed in future talks,” he said.
A large number of Iranian officials have warned of the dire repercussions of such remarks by Washington officials. Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami warned that the slightest military move by the US will be reciprocated by Iran's harshest response, underlining that Iran's reaction would "recognize no boundary".
