Mr Zarif had been hoping to attend Thursday’s UN Security Council meeting in New York, where the growing crisis between Iran and the US is set to be discussed. On Friday Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, had urged the Security Council to condemn Donald Trump’s decision to assassinate the Iranian military commander Qaseem Soleimani. The ambassador called the airstrike that killed Soleimani “a criminal act of state terrorism” that “clearly invalidates the claim of the United States that it is fighting terrorism”.
Earlier on Monday Iran’s Foreign Minister announced on Twitter that Tehran would play host to a forum on Tuesday to discuss ways of ensuring regional security.
Mr Zarif wrote: “While US displays utter contempt for UN Charter & its catastrophic adventurism encourages extremism and terror, tomorrow we’ll host Tehran Dialogue Forum & discuss ways of achieving regional security, incl Hormuz Peace Endeavor #HOPE.”
Monday saw huge crowds attend the funeral of the Quds Force commander in Tehran.
Estimates put the number of mourners at over a million people, and as the coffin was paraded through the city, many in the crowd chanted “Death to America”.
The country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei led prayers and wept openly over Soleimani’s coffin, while the general’s daughter Zenaib told mourners that the US would face “a dark day” for her father’s death.
Addressing the wailing crowds, she threatened attacks on US troops in the region.
She said: “The families of U.S. soldiers in the Middle East will spend their days waiting for the death of their children.”
Calling Trump “crazy”, she warned: “Don’t think that everything is over with my father’s martyrdom.”
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After the funeral proceedings in Tehran the body was transported to the holy city of Qom, where a ceremony at Masumeh shrine was held.
The coffin was then taken to Soleimani’s home town of Kerman, where he will be buried on Tuesday.
Iran fanned growing tensions with the West on Sunday by dropping all limitations on its uranium enrichment.
In doing so, Tehran has deliberately contravened the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, which the US abandoned in 2018.
The move is likely to force European signatories of the agreement to launch a dispute resolution process against Iran this week.
This in turn could lead to a renewal of the United Nations sanctions that were lifted as part of the deal.
Diplomats from France, Britain and Germany were scrambling to see if there was any way of salvaging the deal ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Friday.
Donald Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway was still insisting on Monday that the US President was willing to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran, if Iran’s leaders started to behave “like a normal country”.
Tehran has previously said that Washington must return to the existing nuclear agreement and lift sanctions before any talks can take place.