"In the nuclear talks, the Zionists made lots of attempts to provoke the Arab states against Iran and were strenuously seeking to prevent an agreement," Zarif was quoted as saying by member of the parliament's Budget Planning Commission Gholamali Jafarzadeh on Saturday.
Today, the Iranian top diplomat participated in a private session with the legislators to elaborate on the details of the recent nuclear talks with the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in Vienna.
Zarif was also quoted by Jafarzadeh as saying that "Iran has announced many times that it is powerful with or without an agreement, and its power doesn’t depend on the nuclear agreement".
In relevant remarks on Tuesday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underscored the enemies' failure in forcing Iran to accept their illegitimate excessive demands during the nuclear talks.
"Iran's nuclear issue is another instance of the enemy's weakness," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing the political and religious figures participating in the 'International Congress on Takfiri Streams in the Eyes of the Islamic Ulema' in Tehran.
"The US and the hegemonic European countries gathered to bring the Islamic Republic of Iran to its knees, but they failed and they cannot succeed in future either," he added.
His remarks came one day after Iran and the six world powers ended six days of negotiations and decided to meet again in the next 7 months after missing the November 24 deadline to clinch a final deal to resolve their 12-year standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.
Zarif and EU coordinator Catherine Ashton announced Monday night that the talks had been extended until July 10, and the world powers had taken up to release $700 million of Iran's frozen assets on a monthly basis.
The 10th and last round of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers was held in Vienna from November 18 to 24.
In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 after they failed to reach an agreement on a number of key issues.
After the Monday talks, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi announced that major differences were still in place between Tehran and the world powers, including the details of Iran's enrichment program and mechanisms for removal of the sanctions.
"The issue of enrichment and its limits, extent and capacity, as well as the mechanisms needed for the removal of sanctions are two key issues," Araqchi said in an interview with the state-run TV on Monday night.
"In addition, there are also several other issues that might not be among the key issues, but are sufficiently important and if they are not resolved, we will not reach any agreement," he added.
Noting that the negotiations are now being held in a more rational atmosphere, Araqchi said, "The result of the negotiations will be something which would meet our redlines and safeguard whatever we have, enrichment will continue and certainly all sanctions will be annulled in the form and sequence (that they have been imposed)."
