Zarif Cautions about Foreign Media's Biased Reports amid Nuclear Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said foreign media are releasing false and biased reports as talks over Iran's nuclear program have reached sensitive stage, and criticized local media for echoing foreign media hype about the talks.
“Releasing biased untrue and false news the alien media and broadcasting corporations, at this juncture, is not a surprising move,” Zarif told reporters in Munich on Saturday.
“What is really surprising” he added “is that some friends and local media are echoing such claims despite the official denial by the Foreign Ministry officials and despite their knowledge about the false nature of those reports.”
His comments came after a Reuters report began circulating in some Iranian media outlets alleging that Zarif had warned foreign officials that failure to strike a long-awaited nuclear deal would put President Hassan Rouhani’s administration at risk.
The Iranian minister had immediately rejected that report as an “outright lie”.
Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry met on the sidelines of the 51st Munich Security Conference on Friday and discussed the course of negotiations on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) are in talks to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
Iran and the six powers look to reach a framework agreement in March and a final long-term deal by June 30.
Following an interim nuclear deal signed in Geneva in November 2013, two deadlines for a final, comprehensive deal have been missed, and now a third one is looming on July 1.
