BIARRITZ – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif flew into French city, Biarritz for the G7 summit on Sunday in what appears to be an unexpected and dramatic appearance.
Zarif’s presence had not been announced earlier but it represents an attempt by French host Emmanuel Macron to calm down the tension between Iran and the United States.
“Zarif… has arrived in Biarritz… to continue talks regarding the recent measures between the presidents of Iran and France,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi tweeted.
The French presidency confirmed his arrival but asserted that no talks were planned with the American side as Donald Trump is also in the same city.
A senior French diplomat said Zarif was not formally a guest of the G7 but that Macron had informed other leaders including Donald Trump.
“Our diplomats are working in full transparency with the United States,” he added.
On the other hand, when asked for his reaction to Zarif’s arrival, Trump said only “no comment”.
However, the US treasury secretary, Stephen Mnuchin suggested the US president would not rule out a meeting.
Trump had earlier said that he supported Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s outreach on the US-Iran tension.
We’ll do our own outreach. But you can’t stop people from talking. If they want to talk, they can talk, the US president said during a Saturday night dinner of G7 leaders
Macron held talks with Zarif in Paris on the eve of the G7 summit and is currently trying to bring Tehran and Washington to the negotiating table; both the countries are trading barbs ever since Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal with the Muslim-majority nation and imposed sanctions.
The French president has urged the Trump administration to offer some sort of relief to Iran, such as lifting sanctions on oil sales to China and India, or a new credit line to enable exports as per French officials.
