Azernews.Az

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that U.S. congressmen are willing to develop parliamentary diplomacy with Iran, IRNA news agency reported.

He made the remarks while presenting a report to Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on what Iranian diplomatic offensive yielded at United Nations General Assembly over the sanctions.

He went on to say that the administration needs approval of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for normalizing ties with Washington.

"The US administration and Congress both were out to design new sanctions against Iran and the Israelis attempted to isolate Iran and walk out when President Hassan Rouhani addressing the 68th UN General Assembly, but the Iranian diplomatic offensive neutralized both plots," the top diplomat said.

Zarif said that Iran was not isolated in the UN summit. Rather, it received numerous requests for talks.

"The least achievement the UN visit yielded was that before the trip 45 percent of the Americans believed in war with the Iranian nation, but today 75 percent favor a diplomatic approach to solve Iran-US standoff," he said.

Last week, Iranian media outlets quoted Rouhani as saying "the influence of the talks between Iran and the US has been so positive that a committee for friendship with Iran is going to be launched in the US Congress, in which case your job in the Parliament will also grow much more serious," during a meeting with Iranian MPs.

Some forces in Iran were negative towards Hassan Rouhani's approach to talks with the U.S. president and its stance on country's nuclear program.