US Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Iran last night to enter into talks with the United States to ease tensions in the Gulf. At a time when European Union Secretary of State Federica Mogherini announced that the EU supports talks between Washington and Tehran but only if The current nuclear deal with Iran has been maintained, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the United States should respect the nuclear deal and stop "economic terrorism" against Iran if it wants talks.
"We are not seeking a conflict with Iran. We would like to engage them diplomatically," Esber said at the first official press conference, after confirming his position.
"President (Donald Trump) has said again that he wants to meet Iran's leaders," he said. "We hope the Iranians will agree to meet, talk and help us resolve these issues."
At the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, on Monday, Trump, who has sought to pressure Tehran, showed openness to French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal to hold a summit with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani.
"If the conditions are right, I will definitely agree," Trump told a joint news conference with Macron.
Twelve months after Washington withdrew, Tehran halted its commitment to some of the commitments stipulated in the agreement, to exceed the limit set for uranium enrichment, as well as the size of the allowable stock. The situation was further escalated with the attack of ships in the Gulf, the downing of a US drone and the seizure of oil tankers. In the aftermath, Washington launched Operation Marine Sentinel to protect merchant ships in the Gulf.
"I am delighted to announce that the Centennial process is underway with the UK and Australia, and Bahrain is joining us in these efforts," Esber said, adding that more countries are likely to join the process that has helped calm regional tensions.
"Between our presence and the presence of our allies and partners in the region, I think so far that bad provocative behavior has been deterred," Esber said. "We want to talk to Iran through a diplomat to move forward," he said. "So far the situation is very good."
Mogherini cautiously welcomed the idea of negotiations between Washington and Tehran, but only if the current nuclear deal was maintained. "We are always in favor of talks," she said as she arrived for a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers in Helsinki. "Whenever people talk, they understand each other better, based on clarity and respect."
But she added, "First and foremost, what exists must be preserved," namely the 2015 agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
"We will consistently call for full respect by all parties of UN Security Council resolutions, and this includes the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," she said. German Foreign Minister Haikou Maas said his country welcomed signs that the United States was more willing to discuss the Iranian nuclear deal and called on all countries, including Iran, to work to end the crisis.
"We welcome the outcome of the G7 summit in Biarritz, and I mean here the United States is more willing to talk," Mass told reporters before the Helsinki meeting. "Everyone should contribute, including Iran, to calm the situation in the region, and we want to play our part too."
"Anything that reduces the escalation is beneficial. No party wants war, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz should be discussed, and we want to achieve as much unity as possible in the EU," Mas said.
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, yesterday, that his country is working to ensure freedom of navigation in the Gulf.
"We are talking to all the parties in the region about Iran," he said at a conference of French ambassadors in the world.
He stressed the importance of non-proliferation and ensuring that no terrorist organization in the world is supported.
In contrast, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the Iranian leader would not meet US President Donald Trump unless Washington stopped its "economic terrorism" that harmed ordinary Iranians.
The lifting of US sanctions could also help salvage Iran's nuclear deal, which the United States unilaterally withdrew last year, Zarif said.
He explained that Tehran has the right to reduce its commitments to the nuclear agreement, following the withdrawal of the United States, but it can «return to full implementation» of the terms of the agreement easily if the United States fulfills its commitment and return to the table.
"The United States is fighting an economic war against the Iranian people," he told a forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "It is not possible for us to deal with the United States unless it stops waging war and engages in economic terrorism against the Iranian people." "We talked to the United States at length. We have reached an agreement and they have to abide by the agreement we reached before they expect more talks."
In response to a question about when the crisis agreement was reached, Zarif replied: “This agreement was reached in 2015, after two years of intensive negotiations, we had a mechanism to talk with other parties to this agreement. This mechanism is still available. This mechanism until April 2018, we did not leave this mechanism ».
Zarif also said Iran would seek to speed up legal proceedings over a British oil tanker it seized in the Strait of Hormuz last month. "We will speed up the legal process for the British tanker we now have, after they committed maritime crimes by taking our ship," he said. The British-flagged tanker, Stina Impero, was sent to an Iranian port on July 19, two weeks after an Iranian tanker was seized off Gibraltar.
This comes at a time reported by the Russian agency «Sputnik» that the Iranian oil tanker «Adrian Daria 1» entered Turkish territorial waters, and it is now sailing towards the port of Mersin.
The agency quoted a source in Mersin that the cargo will be unloaded at the port after arrival. Last Friday, the carrier changed its route to the Turkish port of Mersin instead of the Greek port of Kalamata.