Iran cannot be isolated: FM
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his country cannot be isolated and sidelined, saying, “Countries and alliances act based on their interests. Our clear and outright message is that the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot be isolated and sidelined.”
“Iran’s active presence in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in the Eurasian Economic Union, and recently in BRICS, shows the global policy of isolating Iran has failed,” he said in an interview with Press TV following his two-day visit to Cape Town, to attend a foreign ministerial meeting of the BRICS group of emerging economies.
Amir-Abdollahian underscored Tehran’s geopolitical and geostrategic status and said the Islamic Republic is implacably against unilateralism.
“We strongly oppose unilateralism, and at the same time make the most out of the existing opportunities within the framework of multilateralism,” he said. “Moreover, Iran enjoys a principal status in the region geopolitically, geo-economically, and geo-strategically,” he said.
“Iran lies on the major transit route linking the north and the south, as well as the east and the west. We enjoy a whole range of advantages and facilities, and the other parties benefit from this interaction, too.”
The top Iranian diplomat also said he had met with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Cape Town. He said the issue of relations between Tehran and Riyadh and the return of relations to a normal state was of interest to the region.
Amir-Abdollahian said one of the topics he discussed with the Saudi foreign minister was that new opportunities have arisen for cooperation in the region.
“We believe the region is changing,” the top Iranian diplomat said. “In my opinion, the development of economic, commercial, cultural, and tourism cooperation at the regional level can guarantee regional security.”
Highlighting the role of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, Amir-Abdollahian said, “The existing security models to achieve cooperation in the region appear to be outdated.”
He underlined the emergence of a new world order which defies U.S. hegemony and moves from unilateralism to multilateralism.
Stressing that the United States will barely stand the fact that the main actors in the world are moving away from unilateralism and focusing on multilateralism, Amir-Abdollahian said, “They want the current order which is based on U.S. hegemony to be at the center of world attention, but as the concepts in international politics and international relations have changed in recent years, the realities of the international stage have also altered.”
The top diplomat said among the new actors that influence the new world order are such alliances as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS.
“In addition to strengthening our bilateral relations with various countries, we will take advantage of existing regional and international mechanisms to maximize our national interests.”