Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted to a statement by US President Barack Obama on Nowruz, saying Iranians have already made their choice “engage with dignity” with the Western powers over Tehran’s nuclear program

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted to a statement by US President Barack Obama on Nowruz, saying Iranians have already made their choice “engage with dignity” with the Western powers over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“It is high time for the US and its allies to choose: pressure or agreement,” Zarif said on his Twitter account.

In response to a question by Iran’s Spanish-language news channel, Hispan TV, about his reaction to Obama’s statement, Zarif said, “What I tweeted was in response to suggestions that we need to make decisions.” “I just wanted to say everybody needs to make decisions,” he pointed out.

On Thursday, in his annual video message marking the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, President Obama sought to throw the ball in Iran’s court in the nuclear negotiations.

“Iran’s leaders have a choice between two paths … a path that has isolated Iran and the Iranian people … [and] the path of greater opportunities for the Iranian people,” Obama stated, adding, “The days and weeks ahead will be critical, our negotiations have made progress, but gaps remain.”

The latest round of nuclear negotiations kicked off in Lausanne on March 15, with Salehi saying “good progress” has been made over the past six days of the latest round of nuclear negotiations, pointing out that some work still needs to be done.

“We made good progress over this week. We’ve done a lot of hard work, but some work remains ahead,” Zarif told Press TV on Friday, the sixth day of the ongoing nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Iranian foreign minister said he held a “good meeting” with US Secretary of State John Kerry Friday morning, adding, “We need to have some more discussions on a number of issues.”