Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Iran's foreign minister this week amid Iranian complaints that it's not getting the sanctions relief it deserves under last year's landmark nuclear deal, the State Department said Monday. Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet in New York on Tuesday before Kerry flies to Saudi Arabia to join President Barack Obama at a summit with Gulf Arab leaders, department spokesman John Kirby said. Meanwhile, Kirby said the department had sent letters to U.S. state and local officials advising them of changes to federal sanctions policy. The Kerry-Zarif meeting follows complaints from top Iranian leaders that the U.S. is not fulfilling its part of the nuclear agreement, in which Iran curbed its atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief. The U.S. insists it has met its obligations but is facing demands from foreign banks to make clear what transactions with Iran are legal and which are still punishable under remaining sanctions. "We're obviously aware of these concerns that they have expressed about the status of sanctions relief," Kirby said. "And the secretary is very mindful that that topic will come up tomorrow, that that is very much on Foreign Minister Zarif's mind."
