Pres. Rouhani: We must all cooperate to ease tensions in region

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iran's President stressed that Iran is willing to have close relations with all regional countries, adding, "We believe that division in the Islamic community is not beneficial to anyone and we completely welcome Pakistan's efforts for promoting regional peace and stability in this regard".

President Hassan Rouhani had a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday evening, President Hassan Rouhani referred to the fragile conditions of the region, saying, "In the current conditions, we must all cooperate with each other to establish peace and stability and ease tensions".

The President emphasised that war and tensions in the region could be very dangerous, stating, "The Islamic Republic of Iran, while fully prepared to defend its own interests, never sought to ignite a war in the region, so the operation against the American base was in fact a response to America’s criminal act”.

Dr Rouhani pointed out, "Today, we must all believe that dialogue and close cooperation among Muslim nations and governments in the region are for everyone's benefit and that they will suffer from any kind of division, conflict and war”.

The president emphasised the importance of deepening Tehran-Islamabad relations, adding, "Iran-Pakistan borders should be borders of peace and friendship and we must not allow some groups to make our borders insecure”.

Dr Rouhani stated that we are fully prepared to develop our close relations with Pakistan in all fields and stated, "Relations with Pakistan are very important for Iran and we attach great importance to the development of relations with this country”.

The president went on to appreciate the Pakistani government's sympathy for the martyrdom of Gen. Soleimani as well as the crash of the passenger plane, saying, "The two tragedies that occurred were not specific to Iran, and other countries share the sadness”.

Dr Rouhani noted, "US and White House leaders, as well as the Zionist Regime, along with the world's top terrorist leaders including ISIL, were among the two groups that were happy with the assassination of Gen. Soleimani, while the people seeking peace and stability in the region were sad about it”.

"We expect all countries to strongly condemn US state terrorism," the president said.

At the same meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi also condoled on the martyrdom of Lieutenant General Soleimani and the crash of the passenger jetliner, saying, "The assassination of Martyr Soleimani was very unexpected and shocking”.

Stressing that his country does not allow its territory to be used to pose a threat to other countries, especially Iran, the Pakistani foreign minister said, “Pakistan considers itself a partner of peace and stability for the Islamic Republic of Iran and does not want to be a partner to the conflict that harms the region and especially Iran”.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, "We believe that the borders of Pakistan and Iran are the borders of peace and friendship and should remain the same and we are determined to confront the saboteurs who are trying to harm this".

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