Iran’s foreign minister to travel to New York

TEHRAN: Iran’s new foreign minister leaves Monday on his first official trip to the United States where he will meet counterparts from countries party to the 2015 nuclear deal but not the US.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly that begins Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference Sunday.

He “will have separate and bilateral meetings” with the foreign ministers of China, France, Britain, Russia and Germany, Khatibzadeh said.

A meeting with US officials is “not on the agenda”, he added.

The nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers – Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the US – gave Iran sanctions relief in return for tight controls on its nuclear programme, monitored by the UN.

Tehran has gradually rolled back its nuclear commitments since 2019, a year after then US president Donald Trump withdrew from the multilateral deal and began reimposing sanctions.