‘Never threaten an Iranian’: nuclear talks get feisty

A top-level meeting at the Iran nuclear talks this week was a stormy affair, Iranian media reported Wednesday, with the country’s foreign minister warning: “Never threaten an Iranian.”

 

The altercation happened Monday evening as foreign ministers from Iran and six major powers including US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Vienna seeking to nail down a historic nuclear accord.

 

They failed to overcome their remaining differences, and have given themselves until Friday to finalize the accord to end a 13-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

 

The spark, during a discussion on lifting an arms embargo as part of the nuclear deal, came when other ministers expressed concerns about Iran being a destabilizing influence in the Middle East, Iranian media reported.

 

This prompted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to threaten to drag the others before an international court for supporting former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, an arch enemy of Iran, the reports said.

 

Diplomats stopped short of confirming the comments, but one senior Western envoy said the meeting saw a “very heated exchange of views.”

 

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