Iran Press/ Iran news: Attending the Parliament to reply to a question by Seyyed Mohammad Javad Abtahi, representative of Khomeini Shahr regarding his remarks on money laundering and inaction in the face of France, Germany, and the UK, Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "I did my best to counter Western moves to accuse Iran of money laundering. Now that the latest action by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering against Iran has taken place, I have had the strongest defence of the Islamic Republic's position."
Referring to the misinterpretation of his remarks on money laundering in Iran, Zarif said: "The remarks that I made about money laundering was not my own, but rather statements made by various authorities in the country."
Zarif stressed: "My job is to support and defend the Islamic Republic. They accused Iran of not joining these conventions, claiming Iran is not interested in fighting terrorism and money laundering, but I said there are pressure groups in Iran that they have personal interests in not joining such conventions."
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Foreign Minister added: "Iran is interested in negotiations, but the negotiations must be in accordance with international laws and what I said was nothing less than the words of the Leader of the Islamic revolution who had said 'the US must return to JCPOA' so I would not speak for myself."
The Foreign Minister emphasized: "My point was that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not a supporter of terrorism and there are pressure groups inside the country that benefit from money laundering."
On negotiation between Iran and 5+1, Zarif said: "The last time we forced to negotiate with the US was not because of our interest in negotiating with the US and our confidence in that country. If we trusted the US, we would not have drafted the 150-page agreement."
Elsewhere, the minister referred to his previous remarks on Iran-US talks in Doha, Qatar and said, "If I spoke about Iran-US negotiation it was because I wanted to show that Iran is not against negotiations without pre-conditions while the US tried to show that Iran was against such negotiations. We are well aware that the US is against such a procedure and we must introduce this discredited US figure to the world, not let them claim that Iran is not ready for unconditional negotiations."
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"Before I took the office, there were actions that led the UN Security Council to issue 6 resolutions against Iran. These resolutions are repealed only if the five permanent members of the Council agree. We tried, and these 6 resolutions were repealed, and this was the unprecedented thing in the history of the Security Council. Of course, I was sanctioned by the United States," Zarif underscored.
"But now there are those who want these resolutions to be re-enacted so that another group will have to negotiate with the US to repeal it," Iran's top diplomat added.
Referring to the statements by Ayatollah Khamenei on the US and Iran negotiation, Zarif highlighted, "The highest official in Iran understood the condition and said that the United States would come back to the negotiating table only if it accepts JCPOA, but he didn't say that JCPOA went down in the annals of history."
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