Tehran, December 23: Iran’s Vice President Hamid Baqaei has censured efforts to undermine ties between Muslim nations, insisting that the Israeli regime is the prime opponent of improved ties among Muslims.
“Iran poses no threats whatsoever to any of the regional countries and the negative propaganda against this notion comes from the international Zionism that have never desired improved relations among Muslim countries,” said Baqaei in a Wednesday meeting with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the city of Aden.
Baqaei expressed Iran’s readiness to take “practical” steps to remove obstacles in the way of expanding amicable ties between Tehran and Sana’a and emphasized that the two countries should not heed media propaganda aimed at damaging mutual relations, IRNA reported.
“Insecurity in the region only favors Zionism because occupiers of the holy al-Quds (Jerusalem) seek to [intensify] regional tensions in order to divert the public opinion from Palestine, Gaza and Lebanon,” he further explained.
The Iranian official also stressed the significance of fighting against terrorism and violence and noted that the Islamic Republic has sustained worse harm from terrorism compared to other countries.
He criticized the presence of the United States in the region, attributing it to persistent insecurity in war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq, adding, “Secure and powerful Iraq and Afghanistan and a secure and determining Yemen are the demands of the Islamic Republic.”
“We desire a true and sustainable peace in the region which will be fulfilled through the establishment of appropriate ties among regional countries,” Baqaei noted.
He submitted the written message of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Yemeni president and emphasized that the expansion of ties with regional countries is on the agenda of Iran’s foreign policy.
Saleh, for his part, expressed his country’s resolve to promote economic, social and cultural ties with Iran and said great capabilities of the Islamic Republic should be used in favor of regional stability and peace.
Yemen has always supported Iran’s inalienable right to use nuclear energy for peaceful applications, the Yemeni president concluded.
——–Agencies