TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign minister will embark on a diplomatic tour to try to salvage the nuclear deal amid high tensions following the US withdrawal and global fears over reports of unprecedented clashes with Israel in Syria. Mohammad Javad Zarif will leave late Saturday for visits to Beijing, Moscow and Brussels, a spokesman said Friday, holding meetings with all five of the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran appeared determined not to be drawn into a wider regional conflict with Israel during the sensitive negotiations. Iranian analysts said Israel had struck first on Thursday, and that any retaliation was the work of the Syrian military, not Iran. On Friday the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken with Germany’s Angela Merkel and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bid to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive.

Source: Pakistan Today May 11, 2018 15:22 UTC