European foreign ministers see 'perilous' moment, urge Iran to talk to US

The Star

European foreign ministers urged Iran on June 20 to engage with the United States over its nuclear programme after high-level talks in Geneva aimed at opening negotiations for a new nuclear deal ended with little sign of progress.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, please be seated. Welcome to everybody in Geneva.

00:26The good result today is that we leave the room with the impression that the Iranian side is

00:49ready to talk about all the important questions. For us Europeans, it is important that we

00:57will be involved. But most importantly, it is important that the United States of America

01:03will be involved in these discussions and solutions.

01:07We were clear, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and the E3 in Europe have been clear for

01:16many years that that cannot happen. We are keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations

01:25with Iran and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the United States. This is a perilous

01:35moment and it is hugely important that we don't see regional escalation of this conflict.

01:45All the issues. And we are waiting for Iran to open a discussion, including with the United

01:55States, to come to an agreement negotiated by the dialogue of this crisis situation, which

02:00the risk for the region of the Middle East, but also for Europe, is considered.

02:04The discussions we had with Iran is that the regional escalation benefits no one. And that's

02:11why we need to keep the discussions with Tehran open. We agreed that we will discuss nuclear,

02:17but also broader issues that we have and keep the discussions open. So I would stay here.

02:24Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and has always been under the IAEA safeguards and monitoring.

02:31Hence, armed attacks against safeguarded nuclear facilities by regime, which is not a party to

02:37any WMD treaties, is a serious crime and violation of international law.

02:44Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again. And once aggression is stopped and the aggressor

02:51is held accountable for the crimes committed. In this regard, I made it crystal clear that

02:57Iran's defense capabilities are not negotiable.

03:08Mr. President, the Iranian foreign minister this afternoon said if the U.S. is serious about

03:13negotiations, that you would call up Israel and request that they stop their airstrikes.

03:18Will you make that request?

03:19Well, I think it's very hard to make that request right now.

03:22If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody's losing.

03:27But we're ready, willing, and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens.

03:32We'll see what happens.

03:33Thank you, everybody.

03:35Thank you, Mr. President.

03:36Thank you, Mr. President.

03:50Thank you, Mr. President.

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