TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the U.S. President Donald Trump to base his foreign policy decisions on facts, rather than Fox News headlines or his Farsi translators.

.@realdonaldtrump is better advised to base his foreign policy comments & decisions on facts, rather than @FoxNews headlines or his Farsi translators

To be better informed, he can read my entire interview (in English) https://t.co/eZR8NzuWXV

Too many words? Then just read this: pic.twitter.com/URkbUll49P

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 26, 2020

“.@realdonaldtrump is better advised to base his foreign policy comments & decisions on facts, rather than @FoxNews headlines or his Farsi translators,” Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

Trump said in a tweet on Saturday, “Iranian Foreign Minister says Iran wants to negotiate with The United States, but wants sanctions removed. @FoxNews  @OANN No Thanks!”

The tweet by Trump came after Zarif said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel that Tehran sill does not reject talks on the condition Washington “correct[ed] its past” and removed a series of tough economic measures.

Zarif said Trump has misunderstood his remarks, suggesting that Trump must read the entire interview to be better informed.

“To be better informed, he can read my entire interview (in English) spiegl.de/international/…,” Zarif stated.

Zarif posted an excerpt from his interview, when he was asked about the possibility of negotiations following the U.S. assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, advising Trump, “Too many words? Then just read this.”

Der Spiegel: Do you rule out the possibility of negotiations with the U.S. following Soleimani’s murder? 

Zarif: I never rule out the possibility that people will change their approach and recognize the realities. For us, it doesn’t matter who is sitting in the White House. What matters is how they behave. The Trump administration can correct its past, lift the sanctions and come back to the negotiating table. We’re still at the negotiating table. They’re the ones who left. The U.S. has inflicted great harm on the Iranian people. The day will come when they will have to compensate for that. We have a lot of patience,” Zarif said in the interview.

Trump unilaterally quit the nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions in history on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran.

In response to this move, on May 8, 2019, Iran announced that its “strategic patience” is over and started to gradually reduce its commitments to the JCPOA at bi-monthly intervals. At the time Iran announced if the European parties to the deal take concrete steps to shield Iran’s economy from the U.S. sanctions it will reverse its decision.

However, seeing no action by the Europeans, on January 5 Iran took the last and final step by removing all limits on its nuclear activities.

NA