Rouhani: Iran ready for better relations with Saudi Arabia

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country is ready to establish good relations with all neighbouring countries, including Saudi Arabia.

“What happened in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran was carried out by some reckless people and was condemned by all institutions,” Rouhani said in remarks published by state news agency IRNA yesterday.

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“It seems that Saudi Arabia was preparing to deal inappropriately with Iran, and I think it was all due to the defeats it had suffered in Yemen and Syria, so these defeats caused Saudi Arabia to be resentful and so it wanted somehow to compensate for what had happened to it. The embassy had material losses that could have been compensated but Riyadh gave the subject more than its size.”

The positive steps that have been taken so far will lead to allowing Iranian pilgrims to join other pilgrims in the coming Hajj season and Saudi Arabia will stop its illegal measures in Yemen, which are an obstacle to better relations with it.

“As far as Syria is concerned, we hope that the Astana talks will achieve the desired progress and reach a lasting peace in Syria, and that this will be a good basis for relations with other countries.”

The president remarked on Iran’s good relations with neighbouring countries including Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Iraq and Kuwait adding that economic relations between Iran and Russia, for example, have witnessed a 70 per cent growth, noting that Tehran has good relations with the Sultanate of Oman.

Referring to cooperation between Iran and Russia on Syria, he said: “My recent visit to Russia has contributed to a great deal of coordination between the positions of the two countries regarding the developments in Syria.”