Mr. Bahram Ghasemi spoke to a program in Al-Alam TV Network ‘From Tehran’ Sunday night where he believed the political establishment in Riyadh had paid for their strategic errors of judgement; they had been quite myopic in reaching to a definitive position about their place in the region, Mr. Ghasemi told the program.
“Their positions on Iran had always been distorted and based on delusions rather than realities of bilateral relations; so has had the UAE as they are close allies to the Saudi Arabia; they should soon predict what would have been to their positions in the region with highly volatile and transient nature of things in the Middle East and organize foreign policy accordingly,” Ghasemi recommended.
FM spokesperson told the program that Kuwaiti official’s visit to Tehran earlier in February sought to convey a message to President Rouhani; “the message was about bilateral ties and other aspects of the relations,” he said, thus rejecting stories in the media that said Kuwaiti official had been in Tehran to convey Saudi message which proposed Tehran dialogue on all issues of difference in the region.
“We may come to the conclusion that we should talk to Saudis when only feel that Saudi Arabia needs this dialogue and cooperation; if they want cordial relations, they should compensate for their past mistakes; the current tension in relations should be blamed on Saudis’ errors in developing a distorted understating of the image of the Islamic Republic of Iran; if they initiate as such, we would also respond positively,” Ghasemi told the program, thus making overtures to the kingdom in Riyadh that melting ice of relations would not be so difficult.
“I suppose Saudis could not continue to infinity the policy and pay for other countries’ foreign policy priorities to the detriment of itself and the rest of the world, and willy-nilly, the kingdom will a time come to review its policies,” Ghasemi asserted.
On venom and vitriolic spewed by Donald Trump, the US President, against Iran, Ghasemi believed Trump’s much of the rhetoric failed to go beyond mere election campaign speeches; “Trump has yet been continuing his election campaign; it is early to strongly make policies and decisions based on his remarks; however, his speech garnered severe response across the globe including the Europe and the US; there is no specific and reliable evaluation of the situation inside the US, neither by the Americans themselves, since they are in an uncharted territory, and no president had ever incited such deep discontent and demonstrations hostile to president of the US,” Ghasemi emphasized.
FM spokesperson however added that Iran’s foreign policy machinery had been prepared for Trump’s election and its aftermath, as they would have to come to terms with realities of Iran and its strong place in the Middle East.
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