Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the nuclear deal sealed last month between Tehran and world powers is a test of commitment for all negotiating parties.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the nuclear deal sealed last month between Tehran and world powers is a test of commitment for all negotiating parties.

As he met Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Zarif said that the implementation of the agreement is more important that the agreement itself.

“In Geneva, a very important step was taken but now the more important step is the implementation of the Geneva agreement and the commitment for all sides to the content of the deal,” he said during the meeting which took place on Sunday evening.

Zarif further warned about any effort to derail the deal, and noted: "Now all sides must be cautious that extremist groups in certain countries do not derail the implementation of the agreement or weaken the commitments of the (negotiating) parties."

Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program after three rounds of intensive talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24.
The deal is intended to allow time to negotiate a comprehensive agreement on the nuclear program, with the aim of bringing a decade-long standoff over Iran’s nuclear program to an end.

In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities and allow more inspection of its nuclear facilities, the six world powers have agreed to impose no new sanctions on Iran and to suspend some existing ones on its trade in petrochemicals, automobiles, gold and precious metals, civil aviation parts, and food and medicine.

Concerning Iran-China ties, the Iranian FM stressed Tehran’s preparedness to improve comprehensive bilateral relations with its strategic and economic partner, China, in all political, economic and cultural fields.

“The policy of expanding relations with the East is among the most strategic principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Zarif said.
The Chinese official, for his part, described Beijing’s ties with Tehran as strategic and sustainable and called for further expansion of all-out relations.