Raisi Says Not Planning To Meet With Biden At UN

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said at a briefing Monday that he has no plans to meet with The US President at the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

“I said no at the previous briefing in response to a similar question and I'm repeating it again: meeting with [the US President Joe] Biden has no benefit for Iran or the Iranian people. There is no plan for such a meeting and there will not be in the future,” the Iranian president said at the briefing in Tehran attended by local and foreign reporters.

Elsewhere in his briefing,Raisi underlined that Tehran and Beijing are both determined to broaden their relations, especially in commercial and economic areas and said Iran will not allow bilateral ties with China to be affected by globaland other issues.”

Referring to the 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement between the two countries, he stressed Tehran’s determination to implement the deal.

Raisi also reiterated the importance of Iran's presence in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)and said corporation with its members will help Iran connect to Asia’s economic infrastructures and have its fair share of trade in the region.

In response to questions regarding the nuclear issue, Raisi said no one can “deprive the Iranian nation of its inalienable right to access peaceful nuclear technology.”

The Iranian president also said Iran has managed to access some of its frozen assets under the US sanctions and demanded the release of the rest of assets frozen abroad. Iran claimed in July that it had received some funds frozen in Iraq.

Raisi said the Iranian team will not leave the negotiating table in the talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but reaching an agreement, hinges on the settlement of safeguards issues between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“Negotiations are for the sake of removing the sanctions. Those who abandoned their commitments should return and fulfil their obligations. Our emphasis in these negotiations is on the removal of sanctions.”

Referring to Israel’s threats against Iran, he said that the assassinationof the country’s nuclear scientists was aimed at stopping it runs progress in nuclear technologyand added that Israel is not capable of “protecting itself against Palestinian people’s stone-throwing, let alone their precision strike missiles.

Commenting on Tehran relations with neighboring countries and allies Raisi said Tehran and Moscow enjoy strategic cooperation in various areas. "Our cooperation with Russia is strategic and is defined in economic, commercial, energy, air and space fields, and many other issues,” he said, adding that the issue of the North-South Corridor is on the agenda of talks with Moscow.

Raisi noted that negotiations between senior representatives from Iran and Saudi Arabia have continued in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to resolve differences and to restore diplomatic relations and described relations between Tehran and Ankara as good. “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to pursue joint water diplomacy with neighbors,” he said.