Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad ZarifReuters

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif declared on Friday that his country will not participate in any nuclear talks attended by Israeli representatives.

“We will not take part in a meeting that the occupying regime of al-Quds (Israel) is attending,” Press TV quoted Zarif as having said in the central Iranian city of Qom.

“It will definitely not happen and we will undoubtedly not enter a room where a representative of the Zionist regime (of Israel) is present,” he added.

Zarif described Israel as the “biggest threat to the region and the world” and called on the world powers to throw their weight behind facilitating the disarmament of the Middle East instead of exerting pressure on Iran.

“Currently, the Zionist regime, which has both chemical and nuclear weapons, is the only obstacle” to turning the Middle East into a region free of weapons of mass destruction, claimed the Foreign Minister.

The report said Zarif's remarks were in response to possible Israeli participation in talks between Iran and world powers over Tehran's nuclear program.

Israel has repeatedly voiced its objection to the deal reached last weekend between Iran and Western powers negotiating in Geneva, explaining that it allows Iran to continue its nuclear program while getting sanctions relief.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received a phone call from U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the deal. During that conversation, the two reportedly agreed that Israeli and American teams would hold consultations on the permanent agreement.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)