Iran's Rouhani: Terrorists shouldn’t be divided into good and bad

The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to develop its ties with the European Union member countries including Belgium in mutual, regional and international fields, said President Rouhani in a meeting with President of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne.

In this meeting which was held on Saturday in Tehran, Dr Rouhani stressed the roles of assemblies in deepening ties between countries and said: “Iran and Belgium have extensive facilities to develop and cement ties and we should use these facilities to foster economic and trade cooperation during the post-JCPOA opportunity”.

Dr Rouhani also emphasised that “there are no obstacles on the way of developing Tehran-Brussels relations” and added: “The two countries can establish bilateral economic activities for the whole region”.

On the recent interactions with the world’s major trade delegations, he said: “Tehran welcomes Belgian public and private investors and entrepreneurs to cooperate with Iran in post-JCPOA era”.

Referring to the positive role of EU in the nuclear deal, the President said: “The nuclear agreement is neither the beginning, nor the end and its foundations will become robust only through timely and accurate implementation of agreements and commitments”.

He also emphasised consultation and coordination amongst the countries around the world and said: “This agreement also proved that the complicated global issues and problems can be solved through discussion and negotiation and this model should be used for solving other issues in the region and the world”.

On terrorism as a major global crisis, Rouhani said: “Besides economic and cultural roots of terrorism such as poverty and ignorance, discrimination and young people’s despair of the future and their protest against the world powers’ interference in their countries are also basic roots of terrorism”.

“One of the root causes of terrorism is despair and that some feel discriminated against and do not see the existing rules and regulations effective for solving their problems,” continued Dr Rouhani.
He also said that military attacks and bombing are not fundamental solutions to terrorism, adding: “To combat terrorism, all facilities should be used for uprooting this scourge”.

Mentioning EU’s delayed treatment of terrorism, he said: “Unfortunately during the years when the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were dealing with terrorism, Europe was to some extent indifferent and it entered the arena of fighting the scourge only when its flames reached Europe”.

“Terrorism should be combatted anywhere, with any motto and terrorists should not be divided into good terrorists and bad terrorists for short-term interests,” added the President.

He continued: “We were dealing with terrorism in the beginning years of the Islamic Revolution and they brutally killed our authorities and people; and unfortunately, the same terrorists are living and working freely in Europe”.

“Terrorists’ obtaining of chemical weapons is so terrible and the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the victims of chemical attacks and understands it because thousands of victims of chemical weapons are still suffering from its injuries,” added Rouhani.

He also said: “We should block income sources and channels of arms transfer to the terrorists and do not let terrorists plunder Iraq and Syria’s oil and artefacts and sell them in certain markets”.

In this meeting, President of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne said that Belgium demands a new chapter in Iran-Belgium ties in all areas of mutual interest.

She also stressed that Brussels will stand by Iran in fighting terrorism and added: “Iran is the stabilising factor in the region and it can play a vital role in combatting terrorism”.

She also officially invited Dr Rouhani to pay a visit to Brussels.



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