Baku, Azerbaijan, June 2
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran is ready to launch human right talks with Europe, Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
Speaking in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Zarif said that the will to talk should be mutual, Fars news agency reported.
"As I already told Federica Mogherini [the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy] the human rights talks will be mutual and no doubt during that every party will hear unpleasant things," Zarif said.
"However we should seriously enter the talks," he added.
He further criticized the use of human rights issue as tool for achieving political goals.
Elsewhere in his speech, the diplomat said that Iran wants stability in the Persian Gulf.
"All of us are dependent on the Persian Gulf," Zarif said, adding the region countries should highlight their commonalities.
The regional problems impose negative effects on all parties, he said.
"The problem is the inability of our region to respond to the demands of the people, Zarif said, adding that failure to response to the people requests has resulted with perverted reactions such as extremism and terrorism.
He further said that extremism and terrorism are not restricted to a single region, and are global menaces.
He underlined rethinking the loser-loser approach and advised the international community to opt for winner-winner strategy as Iran did during the nuclear talks with world powers.
Zarif arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, later on May 31. He is heading an economic and political delegation during his ongoing European tour aimed at promoting trade and economic opportunities.
The foreign minister has already visited Poland and Finland as part of his tour kicked off May 29. Latvia will be the final destinations of the delegation.