LATEST: FM Zarif — “Unrealistic” to Expect Nuclear Deal Before November Deadline

Iran’s regime has continued its assault on talks with the US, putting a question mark over discussions for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with the 5+1 Powers.

The Tehran Friday Prayer Leader, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami (pictured), reinforced the Supreme Leader’s declaration of “useless” talks with the Americans: “The US is not looking for negotiations, but it is after domination because at the negotiating table they say that the other side should just listen to them and implement (their demands)….The US will take the dream of establishing relations with Iran to the grave.”

Khatami concluded, “The Supreme Leader made valuable remarks that can become charter of Iran’s foreign diplomacy.”

The Supreme Leader said on Wednesday to Iranian ambassadors, “Relations with the US and negotiating with that country, except in specific cases, will have no benefit to the Islamic Republic, but rather will be harmful.”

The Rouhani Government, which is hoping to conclude a comprehensive nuclear deal this autumn with the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia), has only offered a careful, minimal response to Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “We still need more time for negotiations to reach a final agreement,” and asserted, “The other side in the talks has been clearly moving on very cautiously.”

Only last week, the Government had sent Iran’s highest-level nuclear negotiators to Geneva to meet with US counterparts. The bilateral session considered how to resume talks that adjourned on July 18 in Vienna.

FM Zarif: “Unrealistic” to Expect Nuclear Deal Before November Deadline

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has played down hopes for a resolution of the nuclear issue, saying tht an agreement before a November 24 deadline is “unrealistic”.

Last month, Iran and the 5+1 Powers — after 16 days of discussions in Vienna that did not bring resolution — extended an interim agreement by four months to allow for more talks.

Zarif told an Iranian website on Friday that even if a general consensus is reached by the deadline, time will be needed to work out all the details.

The Foreign Minister also carefully defended talks with the US after the Supreme Leader’s denunciation of the “useless” discussions on Wednesday.

Zarif said bilateral negotiations, including a meeting last week in Geneva, were necessary because the US and Iran have no official diplomatic relations.

Leading Official Rezaei to Hezbollah’s Nasrallah “Israel Heading Fast Towards Destruction”

The Secretary of the Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei, has written a letter of congratulations to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on the anniversary of the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

Rezaei declared, “The Zionist regime is in the path of decline and destruction. Resistance is the most effective weapon against the Zionists who have the habit of slaughtering innocent children.”