US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy held a virtual meeting on Tuesday with Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht-Ravanchi in a rare face-to-face discussion between a US politician and an Iranian diplomat.
Murphy, who supported the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, maintained channels of communication with representatives of the Islamic Republic during the presidency of Donald Trump.
In February 2020, Murphy led a group of Democrats in a meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Munich Security Conference. Trump accused the Connecticut Senator at the time of violating a law that bars US citizens from conducting unauthorized negotiations with nations that have disputes with the United States.
“Is there anything that I should know? Because that sounds like to me a violation of the Logan Act,” Trump said. Murphy dismissed the president’s objection, saying that US lawmakers routinely meet with foreign leaders, but that meeting was held amid high tensions with Iran.
Tuesday, Murphy defended his call with Iran’s UN ambassador. “I made the case directly to Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi today for the Iranians to engage with seriousness and urgency in nuclear negotiations, pressure the Houthis to end the war in Yemen, urge Hamas to accept a ceasefire and end rocket attacks into Israel, and release Morad Tahbaz from prison,” said Murphy in a statement.
Tahbaz is a US and British environmentalist of Iranian nationality who has been detained since early 2018 by the IRGC intelligence and sentenced to ten years. There are other dual nationals detained by Iran on trumped-up charges and held essentially as hostages. It is not clear if Murphy only raised Tahbaz’s case or demanded the release of all detainees. But it is clear that the issue of prisoners is on the table and Tehran also demands the release of Iranian detained in the West on various charges, including breaking sanctions or terror-related offenses.
Iran put its own spin on the meeting. Fars news agency close to the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) quoted the foreign ministry on Wednesday that the Iranian diplomat had emphasized the urgency of lifting US sanctions “imposed under different labels”.
The Trump administration imposed close to 1,500 sanctions on Iranian entities and individuals after 2018, when Trump withdrew from the JCPOA. Many of these sanctions were designated as ‘terrorism’ related, which makes it harder for the Biden Administration to remove if it reaches an agreement with Iran in talks currently underway in Vienna.
Concerning the fighting between Israel and Palestinian armed militant groups, the Iranian diplomat “emphasized the crimes of the Zionists against the people of Palestine”, according to Fars.
Source » iranintl