Iran Press/Iran news: "I think it is a hypocritical gesture by the secretary of state (Mike) Pompeo," Mohammad Javad Zarif said on the sidelines of Iran's cabinet meeting in Tehran, on Wednesday.
Zarif pointedly added in an interview with Iran Press, "On numerous occasions, Iranian media and Iranian journalists had asked to interview Mike Pompeo, but all these requests had been turned down by the US secretary of state."
The Iranian foreign minister said: "OK, just respond positively to some of those requests, you don’t need to come to Iran. There is no international organization in Iran. You can respond to those requests, you can grant visas to some of our reporters who are asking to interview you, they can come and interview you. You can have the interview via satellite."
"If you have the courage to respond to the representatives of people who are suffering from your terrorism, from your economic terrorism because of your economic warfare, in fact, targets ordinary Iranian civilians. They are eager to hear why you're targeting them, what is your animosity with them, what is your hostility towards them, just respond to this media. Don’t try to blur the atmosphere," Zarif said.
Pompeo said that he likes to go to Tehran to address the Iranian people
"When I go to the United States I do not go to visit the US, I go to attend the United Nations meetings and that is an obligation of the United States to provide visas to diplomats. Now they have restricted us, not only my delegation but every Iranian diplomat and staff member who works at the mission to just three buildings basically, which is inhumane," he noted.
Zarif said, "I often receive requests from US media to have interviews with them, out of respect for the American people with whom we don’t have any dispute, I grant some of those interviews. Many Iranian news organizations have requested interviews with American officials. They have rejected those requests. Now, simply in order to run a propaganda show in the United States, they are claiming they want to have interviews with Iranian media."
In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg Television on July 25, Pompeo said that he likes to go to Tehran to address the Iranian people.
Pompeo also said that as Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif talks to the media in New York, he also wants to get in touch with the media in Tehran. 101/211/218
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