Iran Suggests Foreign Minister Zarif Pushed Out of Davos

Iran said Monday its Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will skip this week's World Economic Forum after organizers changed the event he had been planning to take part in.

The annual summit, which kicks off in the Swiss resort of Davos on Tuesday, has been overshadowed by escalating tensions between Iran and its arch foe the United States.

Zarif had been scheduled to attend the gathering after receiving a personal invitation, his ministry said.

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"They changed the original program they had for him, the program that had been agreed upon, and came up with something else," said spokesman Abbas Mousavi.

"Either way, this trip unfortunately will not happen," he told a news conference in Tehran.

The annual gathering of global movers and shakers in the Swiss Alps begins on Tuesday and lasts four days.

But Zarif's absence removes any chance of a showdown with US President Donald Trump.

In a tweet published later on Monday, Mousavi suggested that the change in program by the organizers of the Davos forum was “perhaps geared to have only one outcome,” and called Zarif’s absence a “missed opportunity for dialogue.”

Photo: WEF