Zarif: War and Talks Don’t Go Together

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at the US “economic terrorism” against the "innocent" Iranian people, stressing that war and talks will never go together.

On his official Twitter account, Zarif on Monday posted a video showing a "little boy whose heartbroken mother can't get him prosthetic legs as he grows" and emphasized that innocent civilians are being targeted by sanctions and economic terrorism applied to Iran by the United States.

"This is @realDonaldTrump's 'economic war'. And war and talks—with or without preconditions—don't go together," Zarif pointed out.

His post came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Washington is keen to hold negotiations with Iran "with no preconditions" amid the intensification of tensions between the two countries.

Addressing a press conference in Switzerland earlier in the day, Pompeo said, "We are prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions. We are ready to sit down with them."

Relatively, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Moussavi responded to Pompeo’s remarks as saying a game of words by the United States is not important to Iran, but the Islamic Republic expects a change in Washington’s general approach to the Iranian nation.

“For the Islamic Republic of Iran, a game of words and expressing covert goals under the guise of new words is not a criterion for action, but a change in the United States’ general approach and practical stance toward the Iranian nation is the criterion,” he said.

The day earlier, Zarif described new US sanctions against Iran as “economic terrorism,” warning of “consequences” if the US keeps up its pressure against the Iranian nation.

Zarif told ABC News that Washington’s maximum pressure policy "targets ordinary Iranian people" and that Iran will respond in self-defense.

The US remarkably stoked tensions with Iran in May 2018 when US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers and re-imposed harsh sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticisms.

The tensions saw a sharp rise on the first anniversary of Washington’s exit from the deal as the US moved to ratchet up the pressure on Iran by tightening its oil sanctions and building up its military presence in the region.