Zarif urges sanctions against Iran to be lifted

Visiting Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that sanctions against his nation should be lifted at the same time as the verification of Iran's nuclear programme in accordance with the recent Lausanne agreement.

"Just as the agreement states, and whatever happens in the US, all of the sanctions, be they economic or financial, imposed on Iran by the UN and the European Union and the US should disappear in the first phase," he stated on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

The minister added, "if they want to maintain or use them (sanctions) as an instrument of pressure and coercion, people will not have the calm needed in order to implement a good agreement," he said.

The minister's words came while United States President Barack Obama was working to convince the Republican majority party in the US Congress to accept the agreement, which does not include technical details of how Iran's nuclear program will be supervised.

Zarif said negotiations to deal with these issues would begin on April 21 at a deputy level with political directors from Europe, China, Russia and the US.

"I hope that nobody has the intention of violating this agreement. We do not," insisted the Iranian foreign minister, adding "respect works better with Iranians than pressure."

Zarif also met with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, who showed himself to be favorable to lifting sanctions.

"We have never seen sanctions as an objective in themselves. It is an instrument to guarantee the objectives of the agreement and we will try and force a consensus as the measures Iran has promised to take are carried out," said Garcia-Margallo.