From behind a red strip of tape to ensure coronavirus-related social distancing, placed on a handmade Persian carpet in Iran’s presidential palace, Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis greeted President Hassan Rouhani for a meeting that marked 100 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
“The path is open for America to return to the JCPOA,” Rouhani said, in reference to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, widely known as the Iran nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump shredded in 2018. “We expect the friendly and free countries of the world not to resort to silence,” the Iranian president added, as he once again criticized the US economic pressure, which officials in Tehran have repeatedly lamented as “terrorism” or “economic warfare."
