No preconditions, Iran ready for talks with Arab states

Iran is ready for talks with its Arab neighbors “without precondition to sit down and talk with Arab neighbors,” The country’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview on state-run Press TV. “We want to live in good relations with our neighborhood. We want to have a strong neighborhood.”” the country’s foreign minister said as nations such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize their relations with the Islamic Republic’s arch-enemy Israel.“If they believe they can buy security from Netanyahu, they can be my guest,” Zarif said on Sunday, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The UAE and Bahrain last year normalized their ties with Israel in a historic shift for the Middle East as the Jewish state achieves official legitimacy and broad commercial ties in the heart of the Persian Gulf. Underpinning the rapprochement was a shared distrust of Iran, its nuclear program and its growing influence in the Middle East through a network of militant proxies. It may be mentioned that the Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last year the UAE’ decision to normalize ties with Israel was a betrayal of the Arab and Muslim worlds and unlikely to last.

Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog met Sunday with Iran’s atomic chief ahead of plans to partly suspend United Nations inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, state TV reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week the visit was aimed at finding “a mutually agreeable solution for the IAEA to continue essential verification activities in the country.”