TEHRAN – The Iranian Foreign Ministry has rejected media reports linking an upcoming meeting between Iranian and EU officials to recent protests in Iran, saying the planned talks will focus on the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is due in Brussels later this week for talks with the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as well as his British, German and French counterparts, Press TV reported.

“This meeting will be held at the invitation of Ms. Mogherini, and is only meant to review the process of implementing the JCPOA (the official name for the nuclear agreement),” Qassemi explained.

He was reacting to a foreign media fanfare created over Mogherini’s invitation, which claimed that the EU had convened the meeting to address the riots in Iran.

“This meeting has been associated with Iran's domestic affairs with vicious intentions,” Qassemi said, adding the session would possibly take place at Mogherini’s office on Thursday or Friday or earlier.

Earlier in the day, Zarif, himself, commented on the claims in media outlets, saying, “Some media outlets, especially Israeli ones, tried to fabricate news in this regard. Such news fabrication is baseless and unfounded."

Notwithstanding these comments from Tehran, the European Union has announced that it will invite Zarif for talks over the recent protests.

“Together with… Mogherini, we agreed to invite the Iranian foreign minister, if possible next week,” said German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel during a televised broadcast on ZDF.

While noting that Germany supports freedom of demonstration, Gabriel stressed that Berlin will not follow the lead of U.S. President Donald Trump, who vowed to support protesters in Iran.

SP/PA