Iran President Highlights Importance of Ties with Europe as Heads for Zurich
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani started his official visits to Switzerland and Austria to hold talks with senior officials of the European countries about a range of topics, including the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Heading a high-ranking delegation, President Rouhani left Tehran for the Swiss city of Zurich on Monday as part of his tour of the two European countries.
Speaking to reporters before his departure, the president said Iran attaches great significance to its relations with Europe, including Switzerland and Austria.
“Using the massive capacities for (Tehran’s) closer cooperation and ties with Bern and Vienna is among the objectives behind the official visits to the two countries,” he added.
Rouhani further pointed to efforts to save the JCPOA following the US withdrawal from the international accord and said the survival of the JCPOA is to the benefit of the region and the world.
All countries are unanimously condemning the US for its move to walk away from the nuclear agreement, he added.
The Iranian president has enhanced political contacts with foreign leaders on the ways to save the JCPOA after the US exit.
On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has underlined that any decision to keep the JCPOA running without the US should be conditional on “practical guarantees” from the Europeans.
