On Wednesday, the last day of his New York visit, Zarif pointed to the anti-Iran statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter’s speech at the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly and added, “We definitely will not allow Netanyahu to decide on how we should pursue the nuclear talks. We will decide ourselves.”

Netanyahu and other warmongers seek to sow discord in a bid to sabotage the possibility of an agreement, but Tehran will not allow that to happen, the top Iranian diplomat pointed out.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu threatened unilateral military action against Iran to dismantle Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities.

He repeated his baseless accusation that Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Zarif emphasized that Iran will continue to insist on its inalienable right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The Iranian foreign minister argued that Netanyahu’s Iranophobia campaign aims to spoil the positive atmosphere created regarding Tehran’s nuclear energy program following the recent visit by Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and an Iranian delegation including Zarif himself to New York to attend the annual General Assembly meeting as well as extensive meetings with the representatives of other nations.

On September 26, Zarif and his counterparts from the United States, France, Russia, China, Britain and Germany held a meeting on Iran’s nuclear energy program on the sidelines of the UN session in New York.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the accusations, stressing that as a committed member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

NTJ/SHI