Pres. Rouhani: US’ illegal sanctions transient; countries want close ties with Iran

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Before embarking on his visit to Malaysia and Japan, President Hassan Rouhani said, "the policy of looking at the East and having closer ties with key Asian countries is among the Islamic Republic of Iran’s top goals”.

Speaking on Tuesday morning at Mehrabad International Airport, Dr Rouhani said, "On the first leg of the visit, which is taking place at the official invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad, the multilateral relations in the World of Islam will mainly be discussed”.

The president added, "At the Kuala Lumpur summit, important countries in the World of Islam are attending the summit. Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar, Malaysia and Indonesia are among the leaders at the summit”.

He said, "There have been five summits in Malaysia in the past, at the level of elites and intellectuals, but this is the first summit of leaders of Islamic countries".

Stating that the Islamic world has great potentials in terms of geography, energy, population, industry, culture and civilisation, he added, "Terrorism, war and bloodshed, foreign interference, and the inadequacies for the needed development of the Islamic world and poverty are among the problems facing the World of Islam”.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran and Malaysia share many views on regional issues and the Islamic world. Both countries share the view that there is a need for dialogue to resolve the issues,” he said.

"In relation to these two policies, I have announced plans in recent years, the first of which led to an important resolution at the UN General Assembly," he said.

Dr Rouhani continued, "The World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE) Resolution was adopted twice, and this year the Hormuz Peace Endeavour (HOPE) Initiative was put forward at the UN”.

“We believe that regional issues will only be resolved through dialogue. Therefore, this is an important new step for the Muslim world with the attendance of very important and influential countries in the Muslim world that we know some of them are progressing in terms of military and energy. Overall, we attach great importance to this summit”.

Dr Rouhani referred to the sidelines of the summit and said, "On the sidelines of the summit we will have talks with the Prime Minister of Malaysia as a friendly country as well as other participating countries".

The President referred to Iran-Japan relations and said, "During the six years after the government has taken office, relations between the two countries, especially during Mr Abe's premiership, have developed”.

“I have met with the Prime Minister of Japan in all my visits to New York. He also came to Tehran in June of this year and had meetings with the Supreme Leader and I,” said Rouhani.

"This is the 90th anniversary of political relations between Iran and Japan," Dr Rouhani said, adding, "After the revolution in Iran, Japan has had good and important economic activities and investments. Right now we are having close and good talks on environmental issues. If we see a decline in relations today, this decline in temporary due to US pressure and illegal sanctions”.

"The move and the sanctions will be transient and all countries around the world want to have good, close relations with Iran, especially those countries that have traditionally had good relations with us," the president said.

Dr Rouhani said that the visit to Tokyo was aimed at facilitating bilateral relations and discussing important issues between the two countries.

The President added, "Our visit to Japan is a bilateral one, and the visit to Malaysia is a multilateral one with the World of Islam, and I hope that both visits bring good results for all of these countries, especially for our beloved Iran".

..............................................
End/ 257