(23 Jan 2015) Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif said on Friday that a vote in the US Congress for more sanctions against his country will kill a likely nuclear deal with the West.
Speaking during an Associated Press debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zarif warned that Iran's parliament will retaliate if US lawmakers approve fresh sanctions.
"A sanctions bill by the US Congress will kill the joint plan of action that we adopted last year in Geneva," he said. "Now the president of the United States has the power to veto it, but our parliament will have its counter-action."
The Iranian parliament would respond, he added, by passing a bill to increase enrichment of uranium.
The United States and Iran hope that nuclear talks, which include the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, can be accelerated in order to meet a March target for a framework agreement, and a final agreement by June 30.
"I believe there is a possibility, a very good probability, of reaching an agreement, and we should not waste that opportunity," Zarif said on Friday.
During the debate there were lively exchanges between Zarif and Germany's defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, over whether sanctions had forced Iran to the negotiating table.
Leyen asserted that the sanctions had brought about a change in Tehran's policy otherwise the nuclear talks wouldn't be where they are now.
"Sanctions did not bring the government to the negotiating table," retorted Zarif.
"If sanctions had brought this government to the negotiating table, now we would have moved away from the negotiating table."
While Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Swiss alpine resort Davos, their negotiating teams met in Zurich on Friday and Saturday to press for an agreement.
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