Iran's Javad Zarif to visit European nations amid flaring tensions with US

Iranian Foreign minister Javad Zarif is set to visit several European countries next week, the country’s Tasnim news agency reported on September 9. His visit comes amid flaring rift with the US which has not only pointe at Tehran's ‘illegal’ nuclear weapons but questioned its siding with enemies. Last month, Washington mounted pressure on the UN Security Council for the return of pre-2015 nuclear deal sanctions against Iran.

Amid all this, Zarif’s imminent visit aims at securing help from European powers to black new initiatives from the US against the Islamic republic. During his visit, the leader is reported to visit the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, most powerful players in the bloc.

Read: Iran's Khamenei Condemns French Magazine's Republishing Of Cartoons On Muhammad

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Tensions rise between France-Iran 

Tehran enjoys a cordial relation with Paris, however, a satirical cartoon published by a French magazine heated matters recently. On September 8, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the republishing of caricatures appearing to mock Prophet Muhammad by the French satirical magazine was “unforgivable sin”. Releasing the official statement on Twitter, Iran’s supreme leader also took a dig on “some French politicians” who are using the “excuse” of ‘freedom of expression’ to not criticise the “grave crime” of insulting the Holy Prophet of Islam.

Khamenei said that not condemning the decision of the weekly satirical Charlie Hebdo is “completely unacceptable”. Just this week, the magazine had republished the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that made many Islam extremists furious. One of the cartoons appeared to show Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban and the decision to reprint these graphics was denounced by Iran. 

Khamenei’s remarks came after France’s President Emmanuel Macron said last week that the French satirical weekly had not broken any law by republishing the cartoons. The magazine had reposted the cartoons to mark the opening of the trial of 14 Islamist gunmen accused of helping the attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish store in 2015 began on September 2. 

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Read: Iran's Khamenei Condemns French Magazine's Republishing Of Cartoons On Muhammad

 Image credits: AP