Iran: Zarif says 7 October attack on Israel 'destroyed' nuclear talks with US

Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, stated that Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel "destroyed" planned negotiations with the United States to restore the 2015 nuclear deal. Zarif, speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF), said that talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) were scheduled to begin on October 9th, an agreement he helped broker as Foreign Minister in 2015.

The agreement was signed in 2015 but was abandoned in 2018 during the first term of President Donald Trump. "We had no knowledge of what happened on October 7th... We were scheduled to have talks with the Americans on October 9th to revive the JCPOA, but this action undermined and destroyed those talks," Zarif said at the conference. Some commentators have accused Iran of involvement in the October 7th attacks, which both Iran and the United States have denied.

Zarif stated that Hamas, which Iran has long provided financial and military support to, "always works for their own cause, even at our expense." He also said, "We have never tried to profit from our investments in the region." The 2015 nuclear deal provided Iran with relief from international sanctions in exchange for assurances from Tehran that it would not acquire nuclear weapons.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons, stating that it only wants to develop its nuclear program for energy production. President Trump, during his first term, reimposed harsh sanctions as part of a "maximum pressure" policy against Iran. Zarif stated at the World Economic Forum that if Iran had wanted to build a nuclear weapon, it "would have done so long ago."

"I hope that this time, 'Trump 2' will be more serious, more focused, and more realistic," he added.