Zarif hospitalized, calls off meetings

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif cancelled all his appointments and meetings, including a meeting with his Omani counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, after he felt sick and was hospitalized for a few hours.

"Owing to the continuation and severity of Zarif's illness which began from yesterday and forced him to be hospitalized for several hours, and his need to bedrest as prescribed by doctors, all his meetings and agenda were called off both for Saturday and Sunday," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday.

He said that Zarif's planned meeting on Sunday with visiting Omani foreign minister was also canceled.

The meeting between Zarif and bin Alawi was first slated to take place on Saturday but was postponed to Sunday, Qassemi added.

The spokesman said that Zarif's Omani counterpart who is in Tehran, heading a politico-economic delegation, was officially received by Iranian officials, including the parliament speaker, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and the governor of Iran's Central Bank, adding that the parties have held constructive talks.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Valiollah Seif and bin Alawi in a meeting in Tehran on Saturday agreed to broaden the banking relations between Iran and Oman. During the meeting in the Iranian capital, Seif and bin Alawi explored avenues for bolstering and reinvigorating mutual cooperation, specially in the economic and banking fields.

“Undoubtedly, this meeting is a favorable opportunity to establish banking relations between the two countries and we are making efforts to put banking and economic relations under the spotlight more than ever,” bin Alawi said during the meeting.

He reiterated that banking relations between Iran and Oman are growing thanks to the will and determination of the high-ranking officials of the two countries, and said, "We hope that beside growing diplomatic ties, our economic and banking relations will grow as we are neighboring countries."

Seif, for his part, welcomed the presence of Omani banks in Iran to have switch services between the banking cards of the two countries.

“Besides having strong political and economic relations with Iran, Oman can act as a base for re-exporting Iranian goods and as a hub for international banking transactions of Iran,” reiterated the Iranian official.

EA