Publish Date: 12 October 2017 - 18:21

TEHRAN, Oct. 12 (MNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has departed for Russia to take part in the 137th IPU Assembly which will kick off on Saturday.

During his six-day stay in Russia, Ali Larijani will take part in the IPU meeting, deliver representative speech and hold bilateral meetings with a number of his counterparts participating in the event.

The IPU Assembly will be held in St. Petersburg on 14 - 18 October under the theme of “Promoting cultural pluralism and peace through inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue.”

Larijani is accompanied by Parliament's General Director for International Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Ghashghavi.

Speaking to reporters at the airport before leaving for Russia, Larijani commented on US president’s remarks on Iran’s nuclear deal, saying “I do not think that the Washington's position on the nuclear deal has been taken seriously by the international community.”

“There is no sense of concern or anxiety among Iranian officials about Trump’s decision, because the rest of the world is on our side,” Larijani said.

“It is perfectly clear to us that Iran will not be the one to sustain loss, because we have made good progress in our nuclear case and our research and development have been advancing well,” he said.

Larijani went on to add, “economic cooperation between Iran and other countries will continue as it should, therefore there is no reason to take the Americans’ sudden change of behavior toward the nuclear deal seriously.”

MS/4112100,4112115