Iran’s foreign minister is to leave for a whirlwind diplomatic tour as world leaders scrambled to salvage something from the wreckage of the nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump withdrew from this week and after two top nuclear experts resigned.
Mohammad Javad Zarif’s tour starts two days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.
He will visit Beijing, Moscow and Brussels, a spokesman said, holding meetings with all of the remaining parties to the 2015 agreement signed between Tehran and five world powers.
Before leaving, Mr Zarif published a government statement on his Twitter page, slamming the “extremist administration” of US President Donald Trump for abandoning “an accord recognised as a victory of diplomacy by the international community”.
It reiterated that Iran was preparing to resume “industrial-scale” uranium enrichment “without any restrictions” unless Europe provided solid guarantees that it could maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.
Mr Zarif’s delicate diplomatic mission was complicated by reports of clashes between Iranian and Israeli forces in Syria on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said Saturday a total of 27 pro-regime fighters were killed in strikes by Israel, which has vowed to prevent Iran gaining a military foothold in neighbouring Syria.
Tehran, which has sought to avoid an escalation that could alienate its European partners, has not commented on whether its forces were hit.
Israel and its allies have blamed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) for initiating Thursday’s exchange by launching missiles into the Golan Heights, which Israel occupies.
The White House backed Israel’s claims, accusing Iran of “reckless actions” that posed a “severe threat” to stability in the Middle East.
“Already this week, the IRGC (Revolutionary Guards) has fired rockets at Israeli citizens, and Iran’s proxies in Yemen have launched a ballistic missile at Riyadh,” it said.
Mr Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, and “both leaders condemned the Iranian regime’s provocative rocket attacks from Syria,” the White House said.
Iran denies that version of events, saying the Israeli strikes were launched on “invented pretexts”.