“The assistant to Iranian foreign minister immediately summoned the ambassador of the Netherlands to Tehran and delivered the strong protest of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Dutch government for such an unfriendly gesture,” said Bahram Ghasemi, the Spokesman of Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Saturday afternoon.
He made the remarks condemning the move of the Dutch Intelligence service AIVD which expelled two Iranian diplomats on Friday. He described the move as an unfriendly act destructive for bilateral ties.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is after preserving and expanding relations with all countries based on mutual understanding and reciprocal respect while at the same time, as a victim of terrorist acts itself, it is always insisting on its principled policies in decisive and non-discriminatory fight against terrorism by the whole international community,” reiterated the Iranian diplomat.
He described the Dutch government move as illogical and with no legal justification.
“We expect that the officials of this country [the Netherlands] honor their international commitments regarding the arrest and prosecution of terrorist elements for whom Interpol has issued Red Notice warrants and expound on sheltering and homing criminals and terrorist members of MKO (Monafeghin) whose hands are stained with innocent Iranians’ blood,” said Ghasemi, referring to camps provided by some European countries for MKO members who conducted numerous terrorists attacks in 1980s against Iranian civilians and government officials and killed around 18,000 civilians in Iran and Iraq.
“As it has been clarified before, the Iranian government preserves its right for reciprocal measures,” Ghasemi concluded.
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