TEHRAN— A senior Iranian parliamentarian has revealed that during President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to the annual UN conference in New York, presidents of France and Switzerland conveyed messages from the United States.

According to Vahid Jalalzadeh, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament who accompanied Raisi to New York, the United States officials had expressed their interest to meet the Iranian president. 

Speaking to national TV on Sunday, Jalalzadeh said, “From the beginning of Raisi's speech at the UN General Assembly (on Sept. 21), all delegations remained seated and only the Zionist regime’s delegation, which is always hostile to Iran, left the assembly hall.”

Discussing the meeting of the Iranian and French presidents, the MP noted that Emmanuel Macron of France seemed eager to discuss the nuclear negotiations during his meeting with Raisi and was the courier of a couple of messages from the United States. 

“But the president insisted that once being hurt by the JCPOA was enough,” Jalalzadeh said.

According to the parliamentarian, Macron raised Iran's human rights issues during the meeting, to which Raisi responded by raising the issue of yellow vests in France.

Swiss president carried U.S. message

Elsewhere in the interview, Jalalzadeh commented on the meetings between the Iranian and Swiss presidents, saying that the Swiss president carried the U.S. message to meet Raisi, but the Iranian president responded by stating that Iran has not benefited from previous bilateral meetings.

“The Americans seek the tactic of ‘talks for talks’ while the Iranian individuals and entities are being sanctioned repeatedly by the U.S.," the legislator concluded.