Swiss humanitarian channel for Iran is ‘not sign of US goodwill,’ FM Zarif says

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that the Swiss humanitarian channel is not a sign of the United States’ goodwill. “This is a small step and we thank the Swiss government for its efforts… but this channel is not a sign of America’s goodwill at all,” ISNA quoted Zarif as saying.

The Swiss and US governments on Thursday said a humanitarian channel to bring food and medicine to Iran has started trial operations to help supply Swiss goods to the population without tripping over US sanctions, Reuters reported.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday that Tehran “does not have and will not have any kind of bilateral negotiation with America and this is our policy.”

Iranian authorities have said “that the Americans should return to the situation before 2017 and remove the unilateral sanctions they have imposed and return to the negotiation table within the framework of 5+1,” referring to the talks between Tehran and world powers.