TEHRAN -- A senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said Iran is “open” to cooperation with all countries.
“The Islamic Republic is open to cooperation with any Western state that seeks genuine interaction with Iran, provided it respects Iran’s sovereignty and treats us as an equal,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister, told the Financial Times.
“We are actively redefining a new balance in relations with Western, eastern and developing countries. We welcome friendship with any country, from Europe to Asia or Africa.”
Velayati dismissed the Israeli strikes as “much ado about nothing”, saying the Zionist regime is fuelling regional instability. “In its role as a warmongering entity, the regime has the potential to set the volatile Middle East region on fire, and to create the spark that would set the regional powder keg alight,” he said.
Arab governments condemned Israel’s aggression, warning it risked destabilizing the region further.
“We have never started any wars, as attested by history, and the Iran-Iraq war served as a vivid example of that policy. Still, we would confront an act of aggression in a way that would make any aggressor regret what they did,” Velayati said.
He said the Islamic Republic does not expect much from the results of the upcoming presidential election in the U.S.
“What [U.S. President Joe] Biden says quietly, Trump says openly. We have experience in dealing with both and do not have a good history of negotiations with the US,” said Velayati. “We don’t believe in U.S, goodwill. The U.S.’s direct, unconditional support for Israel and its simultaneous calls for de-escalation through intermediaries are simply two sides of the same coin.”