TEHRAN – During his trip to New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has met with several high-profile officials from around the world to discuss bilateral and international issues, including the international nuclear agreement, also known as the JCPOA.

On Friday, Zarif ran into European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini while the two were passing one of the corridors of the official headquarters of the United Nations, and talked for a few minutes, ISNA reported.

The two had already held a meeting on the implementation process of the JCPOA, during which Mogherini reiterated the EU’s continued support for the international agreement.

Iran and six world powers, including Russia, China, the U.S., Britain, France and Germany, reached the 159-page nuclear agreement in July 2015. The deal went into force in January 2016.

Zarif, who is in New York for the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, also held separate meetings with his Chinese, Canadian, Australian, Slovenian, Danish, Algerian, Belarusian and Norwegian counterparts during which bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues, including the nuclear accord, were discussed.

Zarif also held talks with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. The main focus of the meeting was improving the situation for Myanmar and Syrian refugees.

Iran urges cooperation, dialogue among Asian countries

On Thursday, Zarif attended the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) meeting to take over the annual presidency of the body. The meeting was attended by the ministers and high-ranking officials of the member states of the ACD.

Iran firmly believes that the ACD should enhance cooperation among its member states to address the current challenges more seriously, he said in the meeting.

“Cooperation and dialogue are the core values that we try to promote through the ACD to help accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. By focusing on these two values and mainstreaming them in our interaction, we should be able to advance peace and stability that are two important promoters of sustainable development and, at the same time, do whatever in our power to suppress violence and extremism that, over the past several years, have unfortunately reversed an important part of what we achieved over the past several decades in the area of sustainable development,” he added.

Iran to assist Syrian nation in reconstructing their country 

He also attended a high-level meeting on the Syrian crisis, held on the sidelines of the UN meeting. 

Zarif said Iran will assist the Syrian nation in reconstructing their country after the war, in the same way that it contributed to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Arab state amid the crisis.

What matters now is trying to restore political calm to Syria and devising plans for its reconstruction, the Iranian minister added, urging the international community to support Syria’s reconstruction.

Iran, Iraq, Turkey urge countermeasures against Kurdish referendum

On Wednesday, Zarif and his Iraqi and Turkish counterparts held a meeting in New York about the Kurdistan region's bid for holding an independence referendum, stressing the need for considering coordinated countermeasures in this regard.

After the meeting, the three foreign ministers issued a statement saying constructive dialogue within the framework of the Iraqi constitution is the only way forward to address the issues between Baghdad and Erbil.

They also underlined the importance of support by Turkey and Iran to resolve the issue.

They further emphasized that the planned referendum is unconstitutional and runs the risk of provoking new conflicts in the region, and agreed to consider taking counter-measures in coordination.

MH/PA