TEHRAN, Apr. 29 (MNA) – In a live interview with American TV channel CBS, Iran’s Zarif has said failure in nuclear talks will not cause a disaster but will certainly ruin a significant opportunity.

While in New York for attending the NPT review conference on April 27-28, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was interviewed on the American CBS channel.

On the impact of a possible failure in reaching a nuclear accord, Zarif maintained it would definitely cause no disaster, but would certainly ruin an important opportunity.

He asserted the agreement would create an opportunity for Iran to maintain more normal ties with the West; “I am not saying the ‘international community’ as I just delivered a speech at the UN General Assembly as chair of the Non-Aligned Movement and witnessed that all those member states shared similar views with Iran. They are all against the production of nuclear weapons and believe that the world must get rid of them.”

Zarif expressed hope that a nuclear agreement would lead to the building of trust and assurance between Iran and the US and not to an agreement based on initial trust.

“However, what we hear from inside Washington does not help gain Iran’s trust; of course, we do not intend to get involved in discussions on the US internal affairs and will continue considering the US government in its entirety,” he said.

Zarif maintained that exerting pressure on Iranian people was not a sign that the sanctions had been successful; “but if the goal of the sanctions had been to create animosity and bitterness toward the US, then they have been successful in reaching it.”

Iran’s FM also noted that what has been achieved during the nuclear negotiations could have been achieved ten years ago; “they did not listen to us then, and so it is not the sanctions that has borne fruit but the negotiations that will ultimately reach results.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met Monday in New York for the first time since the six states and Iran reached an initial understanding on April 2 in Lausanne. They now have little more than two months to meet their own deadline of June 30 for a comprehensive accord.

By Mehr News Agency