“To defend our country, based on our national interests, we move on the evolutionary path of missile program and it is totally irrelevant to foreign countries,” said Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior Aide to Iranian Leader, on Wednesday.
The veteran diplomat, who was Iranian foreign minister for 16 years, made the remarks on the sidelines of his meeting with Chairman of the European Parliament's (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee David McAllister in Tehran.
Mr. Velayati recounted that during the meeting with McAllister the relations between Iran and Europe were discussed.
“Some questions on regional issues and the stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, and the reason behind Iran’s helps to these countries sopped up,” added the Iranian official.
“Europeans are eager to expand relations with Iran. While they have no executive position and are free to comment, they announce that the only county of the region hoped to be the axis of serenity saving the countries of the region from disintegration is Iran,” highlighted Mr. Velayati who is also the Head of Strategic Research Center of Iranian Expediency Council.
“They explicitly said that the only glitter of hope is shining from Iran to establish peace and security in the region. They themselves cited the crisis in Libya as an example how foreign interventions from some westerners and Arab countries have split up the African country; Hence we won’t allow the other countries of friendly ties end up the same fate,” asserted Mr. Velayati.
“They asked questions on Iran’s missile program and we answered that missile is a means of defense for Iran. Every country defines a defensive system for itself based on the conditions and our choice has been missile,” reiterated the Iranian official.
“We won’t allow the others to interfere and we will abides by nobody trying to dictate what we are supposed to do or not to do,” underlined the former foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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