World Bulletin / News Desk
A top-level meeting at the Iran nuclear talks displayed flared tempers with Iranian media reporting that the country’s foreign minister warning European counterparts to “never threaten an Iranian.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added “nor a Russian”, according to other sources as reported in RIA.
The comment was made after Mogherini threatened to leave the Iran talks in Vienna during a heated exchange over whether to lift a UN arms embargo on Iran, something both Iran and Russia support.
Later in an effort to clear up the exchange that has made its rounds among Iranians and Iran watchers alike, a member of Iran’s negotiating team quoted Zarif saying that “Ms. Mogherini has always had a very positive and constructive role in negotiations and our relationship has been governed by mutual respect and today also we had a very positive and constructive meeting.”
The altercation between the leaders took place on Monday evening as foreign ministers from Iran and six major powers including US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Vienna seeking to nail down a historic nuclear accord.
A report in al Monitor said that the leaders failed to overcome their remaining differences, and have given themselves until Friday to finalize the deas to end a 13-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
This prompted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to threaten to drag the others before an international court for supporting former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, an archenemy of Iran, the reports said.
Diplomats stopped short of confirming the comments, but one senior Western envoy said the meeting saw a “very heated exchange of views.”
The reported remarks from Zarif to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini have since trended on Twitter under the hash tag #NeverThreatenAnIranian.
Güncelleme Tarihi: 10 Temmuz 2015, 11:55
