Iran’s FM in hot water over walk with Kerry

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The pic that got the  Iranian FM in trouble.  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry   with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif before a meeting in Geneva January 14, 2015. CREDIT: REUTERS/RICK WILKING
One of the pics that got the Iranian FM in trouble. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif before a meeting in Geneva January 14, 2015.
CREDIT: REUTERS/RICK WILKING

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is to appear before parliament following controversy over a promenade with his American counterpart during intense nuclear negotiations in Geneva, state media reported on Sunday.

Zarif, who leads Tehran’s talks with “P5+1” – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – had a 15-minute walk down Geneva sidewalks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during discussions on Jan. 14 aimed at reaching a settlement of the 12-year nuclear dispute between Iran and the West.

Media images of the top diplomats from old adversaries strolling together in a foreign land provoked an outcry among Iranian hard-liners deeply wary of rapprochement with the “Great Satan”.

On Friday, conservative-leaning prayer leaders heaped scorn on Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani for the “diplomatic slip-up” and newspapers said 21 members of parliament had signed a petition to call in the moderate minister to provide an explanation.

“Given the Great Satan’s endless demands and sabotage during the course of the nuclear negotiations, there is no conceivable ground for intimacy between the foreign ministers of Iran and America,” said the petition published in hard-line Fars News.

“Your exhibitionist walk together with (Kerry) along Geneva sidewalks was certainly outside the norms of diplomacy, so why don’t you put a stop to such behavior?”

The row over the diplomatic stroll is the latest in a series of summons since Zarif took charge of the nuclear file in late 2013.

kerry zariv the walk
The walk

In February 2014 he caused an uproar with public comments condemning the Holocaust and was subsequently summoned to parliament. Holocaust denial has been a staple theme of public speeches in Iran for decades.

Tehran and Washington broke diplomatic ties after Iran’s 1979 Islamist revolution, establishing tentative direct contact on specific cases such as the wars in Afghanistan andIraq, and more recently as part of the nuclear talks between Iran and “P5+1,” under way since after President Rouhani’s 2013 election.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed official interaction with the United States within the nuclear framework, leaving the field wide open for controversy.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran last week, Zarif sought to justify the private walk with Kerry: “We had a serious earnest session and perhaps there was a need to pause a few minutes and resume in another form. These are quite normal in the world of diplomacy, especially since our hotel had no yard or garden and surrounding alleys were packed with curious journalists.”

Despite resurgent criticisms, Zarif held another round of secret nuclear talks with Kerry on Friday in Davos, Switzerland. There has been no word of a breakthrough in the quest for a deal to curb Iran’s atomic program in return for lifting economic sanctions imposed as punishment on Iran in the past.

The United states and other Western countries have long suspected the Islamic republic of seeking nuclear weapons know-how, but Iran insists its program is geared to production of non-fossil fuel and scientific research.

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15 responses to “Iran’s FM in hot water over walk with Kerry”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar

    Not exactly Beauty Queens, these ones. :-)))))

    1. Aljazeera changed its pattern on comments..we can,t edit mistakes.

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar

        Wow …. Best then to write in a text programme, check your stuff, then copy and paste into their comment page,
        But it’s a ‘newspaper’, not a blog. They ALL want to ‘record’ every little thing you say. 😉

  2. Is this not part of the negotiations? Learning to get along, and some Iranians don’t want any part of it, preferring stagnant economy, extremism and isolation.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Talking is not considered ‘de-rigeure’ … only arguing incessantly is ‘approved’ for ‘dialogues’.

  3. Shirdel2142 Avatar
    Shirdel2142

    So what? a man cant have a 15 min walk anymore with out controversy??

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Nope. And the cameras are watching you.

      1. Shirdel2142 Avatar
        Shirdel2142

        But this is murica!!!

  4. arzatna1 Avatar

    Zarif should have carried during the 15 minute walk a banner saying;
    “Death to the Great Satan, death to America ”
    Zarif should know better . No intimacy with America is allowed . He should have kept at least a distance of 6 feet or about 2 meters from Kerry and communicated with him thru a cell phone so that people in Iran’s parliament will know exactly what was gong on.
    What Zarif did was “outside the norms of diplomacy” for Iran.

  5. Many people now hates America..many people pretended that they love America..but they are not…why..because America is slaves to Israelis Jew..They will do anything what is Jews Bankers and Israel plan in Middle east.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      You DO have a point there, Zabada. ‘Hate’ might be too strong a word … yet. 😉
      But it’s not all Americans either. It’s the ‘glorious leaders’ …. leading them in bad thinking. Same as in other places.

      1. Of course i mean ..it is their politicians.

  6. sweetvirgo Avatar
    sweetvirgo

    This is the dumbest thing I ever read. “provoked an outcry among Iranian hard-liners deeply wary of rapprochement with the “Great Satan”. I didn’t know a stroll would do that. Get a grip worry about ISIS, nursa…all these terrorists groups that are murdering innocent people. Idiots!!!

  7. Hannibal Avatar

    Kerry: We can make you president

    Zarif: What do you need?

    Kerry: Fight ISIS

    Zarif: What else?

    Kerry: Stop helping Hezbollah

    Zarif: I need Hezbollah to fight ISIS

    😉

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      LOL ….

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