TEHRAN, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- With another round of nuclear talks scheduled, an Iranian foreign policy adviser said Tuesday he was frustrated with bellicose rhetoric coming from Washington.
Iran and members of the so-called P5-plus-1 -- the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany -- are scheduled to sit down at the negotiating table Feb. 18 in Vienna to discuss progress made on an interim nuclear deal.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a Jan. 23 interview with al-Arabiya the military option "is available" if Iran backs out of the deal. President Obama said in his State of the Union address last week "I will ... stand ready to exercise all options to make sure Iran does not build a nuclear weapon."
Esmayeel Kosari, a member of Iran's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told the semi-official Fars News Agency the comments were out of line.
"Such absurd comments are not worth a response and the Americans have been using such hollow threats for years," he said Tuesday.
Iran under the terms of a November agreement reached with representatives of the P5-plus-1 agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment activity in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions.
Obama said last week the onus was on Iran to make good on its pledge. If it does, he said, "we will have resolved one of the leading security challenges of our time without the risks of war."
