“We know that relations with Europeans enhance economy and industry,” said Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in his meeting with visiting Croatian President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, late on Wednesday in Tehran.
Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani referred to the years he was the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Yugoslavia was disintegrating, with bloody wars to have Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia, and said that he was unhappy because of war but respected the sovereignty of those countries to show respect to the people of those countries.
“It was interesting for me to see beautiful tidy mosques in Yugoslavia, and I said prayers in one of those mosques in Zagreb,” said the Iranian senior official reminding his visit to the country in years before the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.
Hashemi voiced content that stagnated Tehran-Zagreb ties were over and welcomed the booming parliamentarian, diplomatic, and economic interactions between the two countries.
“Although the gas pipeline to transfer Iran’s energy to the European Union is very strategic and needed, the US still impedes on the construction of it despite the tendency of Europeans,” said the Iranian veteran official highlighting the role of Balkan in Iran-Europe relations.
Hashemi addressed the Croatian President and told her that Iran has no limitations in developing ties with Croatia, and it is up to Croatians to weigh their capacities and plan cooperation with Iranians.
“Bilateral interactions between Tehran and Zagreb are effective on both the region and the whole world, so with visit to Tehran and the kind of delegation accompanying you, enhancement of ties is possible at any direction,” Hashemi told her.
Croatian President, in this meeting, for her part, voiced content about her visit to Tehran, her meetings with senior officials especially President Rouhani, and welcomed the formation of the joint commission of Iran and Croatia as a fortunate event.
“The way people live in Croatia can be a model for the other European countries,” said Grabar-Kitarovic commenting on how freely and democratically Muslims live and work in her country.
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