Iran Press/Iran: Speaking in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed happiness over more security in the region compared to past years and said: “This year, we are witnessing more security than the past years, especially in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and even in northern Africa”.
“I hope that the people of Yemen soon witness establishment of peace and stability and the aggressors have learned the lesson that war and aggression are not the way, but compromise, negotiation, agreement and political solutions are the way to go,” added Iranian President.
Regarding the Iran-Iraq war era, the President said: “After the Imposed War, the effects of the war still remained, and unfortunately, they have not been completely healed even today. We have important legal issues with Iraq that have not been resolved and must be pursued”.
“It’s been over 20 years that negotiations on Caspian Sea issues are running between its' five littoral countries. We resolved a part of the issues and a part is still remaining. In some issues, the countries on the north part of the sea could reach an agreement,” continued Rouhani.
Iranian President added: “In the south side of the sea, there are still issues between Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. We had good agreements with Azerbaijan in this regard, some of which are being implemented, but a part of these issues has not been resolved yet”.
The fifth summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states took place last Sunday, when the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, Republic of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan met and signed agreements in the Seaside resort of "Actau" in Kazakhstan. Rajab Safarov made his claims in an interview with BBC after the signing of documents relating to the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the summit in Actau on Sunday afternoon.
Stressing that as the result of the negotiations and agreements, we had great achievements in national security, Rouhani said: “The conspiracies of the Americans and even NATO was to be present in these waters and deploy their soldiers, frigates, helicopters and bases on the coasts of Caspian Sea. In this agreement, the five countries agreed to ban the presence of foreign vessels in Caspian Sea”.
“After 20 some years of negotiation, only 30 percents of the Caspian Sea issues have been solved and negotiations still continue,” said the president, adding: “We have to continue negotiating because this is the only way. We must resolve the issues with dialogue and negotiation”.
Iranian President continued: “Military and defence power, especially in military war and defending the country, is very important and has an important role. But the defending the country won’t be possible without foreign policy, people’s support, and cultural and economic issues. Powers and capabilities of the country must exercise synergy and stand together to make it happen”.
Related: Tehran the host of Caspian Sea safety conference
Rouhani also spoke about economic issues and the market, saying: “Today, we need calmness in the market. We are in conditions that the enemies want to put pressure on the country and disrupt people’s life, a situation in which the government has a very heavy responsibility. All ministers, vice-presidents and authorities in organs around the country have a heavy responsibility”.
The government should help people and people should help the government, said Rouhani adding: “We must join hands and cope with this situation together. We won’t let enemies to bring us to our knees. The enemies will take the wish of defeating Iran to the grave. They cannot defeat the great Iranian nation by illegal, cruel and unlawful pressures”.
Saying that Iran is negotiating with entire world, the President added: “it was the Americans themselves who disrupted the process of negotiations, addressing Americans: “If you wanted to pass through the bridge, why did you destroy it? If you wanted us to meet, why did you destroy the bridge? You yourself did it. If you want to prove it, you have to rebuild the bridge. Once you rebuild the bridge, meetings will automatically and naturally happen”.
The first meeting of the Caspian states’ leaders was held in Ashgabat in 2002, and the other summits were convened in Tehran, Baku and Astrakhan.
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world and accounts for 40 to 44 percent of the total lacustrine waters of the world. The coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan.
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