Iranian FM heads to New York for UN moot

GENEVA: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif traveled to New York on Saturday to attend a United Nations conference amid rising tension between Washington and Tehran.

The US and Iran are at loggerheads over Tehran’s nuclear programme and the former has blamed the Iranian forces for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf, a charge Tehran denies.

The two nations came close to a conflict last month when Iran shot down a US drone, prompting Washington to order retaliatory air strikes that were called off at the last minute.

Zarif will attend a meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) in New York and would then travel to Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, IRNA reported.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in June that Washington would impose sanctions on top Iranian officials, including Zarif, a step that could have impeded any diplomatic efforts to resolve their disagreements.