Davos Summit: Amid Tensions With Washington, Iran's Foreign Minister Cancels Attendance

Amid tensions between US and Iran, top diplomat of Tehran has cancelled his trip and will not be attending the Davos Forum. The summit in the Swiss resort also comes after Iran earlier this month shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board. The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 57 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians.

Iran’s top diplomat, Mohammad Javad Zarif, had been invited and plans had been made for him to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

However, according to Mousavi, officials at the forum changed plans involving Zarif, which led to the diplomat cancelling his trip, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Tensions also remain high between Iran and the U.S. after an America drone killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

Three rockets hit near US embassy in Baghdad

Three rockets hit near the US embassy in the Iraqi capital’s high-security Green Zone, security sources told AFP, with no immediate reports of casualties. Sirens could be heard across the zone immediately after the rockets made impact. The US has blamed Iran-backed paramilitary groups for a spate of similar attacks in recent months on the Green Zone, but there has never been a claim of responsibility. The Green Zone is the common name for the International Zone of Baghdad. It is home to government offices and foreign embassies of many countries, including America.

It is a 10-square-kilometer (3.9 sq mi) area in the Karkh district of central Baghdad. It was the governmental center of the Coalition Provisional Authority during the occupation of Iraq after the American-led 2003 invasion and remains the center of the international presence in the city.

The US embassy in Baghdad as well as the 5,200 American troops stationed across the country have faced a spate of rocket attacks in recent months that Washington has blamed on Iran and its allies in Iraq. One attack last month killed a US contractor working in northern Iraq, prompting retaliatory American air strikes that killed 25 hardline fighters close to Iran.