Iran’s Zarif heads to New York for UN conference
UK said to facilitate release of Iranian tanker if it doesn’t head to Syria
GENEVA (Reuters) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif traveled to New York on Saturday to a United Nations conference, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported, amid rising tension between Washington and Tehran.
The United States and Iran are at loggerheads over Tehran’s nuclear program, and Washington has blamed Iranian forces for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf region, a charge Tehran denies.
The two nations came close to conflict last month when Iran shot down a US drone, prompting Washington to order retaliatory air strikes that were called off at the last minute.
Zarif will attend a meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council in New York and then travel to Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, IRNA reported.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in June that Washington would impose sanctions on top Iranian officials, including Zarif, a step that could have impeded any diplomatic efforts to resolve their disagreements.
But two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday the United States had decided not to impose sanctions on Zarif for now, in a sign that Washington might be holding a door open for diplomacy.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt told his Iranian counterpart on Saturday that Britain would facilitate the release of the detained Grace
1 oil tanker if Tehran gave guarantees it would not go to Syria.
The tanker was seized last week by British Royal Marines off the coast of the British Mediterranean territory of Gibraltar on suspicion of violating sanctions against Syria.
Iran has demanded Britain release the ship and denies it was taking oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.
The affair has stoked tension in the Gulf, with Britain saying on Thursday that it had fended off Iranian ships that tried to block a British tanker in the area.
Hunt said the call had been constructive and Zarif had told him that Iran wanted to resolve the issue and was not seeking to escalate tensions.
“I reassured him our concern was destination not origin of the oil on Grace One & that UK would facilitate release if we received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria, following due process in [Gibraltar] courts,” Hunt wrote on Twitter.
Tehran blames the US for arranging the seizure of the tanker.
European countries have not imposed sanctions against Iran, but have had them in place against Iran’s ally Syria since 2011.
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told the territory’s parliament on Friday the decision to detain the tanker, which he said was carrying 2.1 million barrels of oil, had not been taken at the request of any other country.