The remarks were made by Iranian Interior Minister Aboldreza Rahmani Fazli during a press conference with foreign media on Monday in Tehran.
Answering a question on Iran’s security measures in the face of potential terror attacks, the minister maintained that based on obtained documents, Iran has always been the target of terrorists and as a result, the Islamic Republic is always monitoring threats vigilantly.
“We have a comprehensive plan for strengthening the country’s safety and protecting national security from the borders into the far reaches of our territory. The plan allows all different organizations to work in coordination with one another, and if we sense that certain developments in other countries such as Iraq would pose threats at the borders of Iran, we will definitely take immediate action,” he said, adding such action would of course be in coordination with Iraqi government.
Rahmani Fazli further added that Iran obtains intelligence on potential threats against the country through various channels.
Concerning a question on a trilateral meeting between Iran, Iraq and Syria on fighting terrorism, Rahmani Fazli said the three countries have reached an agreement to hold the meeting in Syria but the poor conditions in Iraq that prevented the participation of Iraqi foreign minister in the talks has postponed the meeting to a later time; “we are fully prepared to participate in the meeting and deem it necessary to hold such talks,” he said.
The Iranian official then referred to the measures taken by the Ministry of Interior in regard to national security, adding “border security is one of the country’s most important issues. Given the developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the security at eastern and western borders of Iran has been the cause of many concerns. Of course, our good interaction with neighboring countries has been able to reduce the concerns to a considerable degree.”
Rahmani Fazli stressed that the best approach to battle terrorism is an ‘honest international cooperation’ among all countries, adding “this means that we must condemn all forms of terrorism and not divide it into good and bad terrorism.”
“If certain countries do not stop treating terrorism as a weapon and a tool to exert pressure on others, the situation will get out of control,” he concluded.
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