Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received on Saturday evening Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven who is visiting Tehran. Ayatollah Khamenei told the meeting that Sweden and Iran had considerable opportunities and capacities to boost relations. He made passing references to what is generally believed as unimplemented agreements between Iran and European countries and suggested that Swedish officials were pragmatic and could work to bring to implementation of deals to a reality from paper; “now, the level of relations is well below what it should be; Iranians are to be trusted for their good fame and Sweden should invest on this feature of ours,” he added.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that Iran had been enjoying energetic generations of university graduates and a nation readily seeking their destiny with strong will; “in February 11 rallies, we see that fervor and energy which fills the streets to distinguish Islamic Revolution from other revolutions across the world which are generally celebrated quite officially where elites attend; however, high turnout on the anniversary of Islamic Revolution of 1979 defies any analysis by observers who see the situation on conventional premises,” he told the meeting.
On regional crises in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East, Ayatollah Khamenei blamed foreign intervention as the major root of the violence and chaos in the region; European powers as well as the US had been behind the sad events and rise of petty extremist groups in Syria and Iraq where public are well aware of the fact that such interventions had been malignant at best. “Ambassadors of some EU countries had been actively delivering arms to Syrian opposition to fuel further the civil strife which constituted an example of interventionist policy,” he told Swedish PM, who was accompanied to the meeting by President Hassan Rouhani.
“Visit to Tehran is historic; we believe negotiations with President Rouhani positive; we talked trade and economic relations and will work to implement the signed deals,” Prime Minister Löfven told the meeting.
“Sweden is a member of the UNSC to do a different and effective job; in line with this, we voiced support for NAM positions in the UN,” he added.
Stefan Löfven shared with the Leader the opinion that Iran enjoyed a young and energetic generation and believed that it was an invaluable asset; “nations would be benefited most from their young generations active in the economic sectors,” he briefly said.
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