TEHRAN, May 11, 2018 (News Wires) - Iran's foreign minister will embark on a diplomatic tour to try to salvage the nuclear deal amid high tensions following the US withdrawal and global fears over reports of unprecedented clashes with Israel in Syria. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will leave Saturday for visits to Beijing, Moscow and Brussels, a spokesman said Friday, holding meetings with all five of the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran appeared determined not to be drawn into a wider regional conflict with Israel during the sensitive negotiations. That is despite Israel's claims that it struck dozens of Iranian targets inside Syria early on Thursday as part of "Operation House of Cards". Israeli Defence Minister Minister Avigdor Lieberman urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "throw the Iranians out" from his country. Israel said the strikes were in response to a missile volley fired from southern Syria by Iran's Al-Quds force, that struck the occupied Golan Heights without causing casualties. But Iran flatly denied the Israeli version of events on Friday, saying Israel's attacks were carried out on false "pretexts". "The repeated attacks by the Zionist regime on Syrian territory were carried out under pretexts that were invented by themselves and are without foundation," said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi, without offering further details.
