ZURICH: Iran’s foreign minister has canceled Austria visit to show displeasure that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s government had flown the Israeli flag in Vienna in a show of solidarity, according to statement issued today (Saturday).
It was reported that Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was supposed to meet his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg but had called off the trip, a spokeswoman for Schallenberg said.
“We regret this and take note of it, but for us it is as clear as day that when Hamas fires more than 2,000 rockets at civilian targets in Israel then we will not remain silent,” the spokeswoman added.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said. “Mr Zarif did not consider the trip beneficial in these circumstances, and therefore the travel arrangements were not finalised.”
The dispute comes during talks in Vienna to try to revive a 2015 accord with western powers in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from sanctions. Former US president Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, prompting Iran to begin violating its terms.
Hamas is the religious group that runs Gaza. Israel has pummeled Gaza with air strikes and Palestinian militants have launched rocket barrages at Israel in the worst escalation of violence in years.
The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.
