Tehran, Iran, July 22
By Temkin Jafarov, Umid Niayesh - Trend:
In the post-sanctions period a new chapter will be opened in Iran 's ties with neighboring countries, in particular with Azerbaijan, Iran 's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi said. He made the remarks during a press conference in Tehran on July 22 while responding to Trend Agency's question about the future of Iran-Azerbaijan ties once the sanctions are lifted.
Due to its unique location between Iran and Europe and given the country's transit potential, Baku will have an important place in Iran 's future cooperation with the EU, Araqchi said. He further underlined Azerbaijan 's importance in Iran 's foreign policy due to close cultural and historic ties between Tehran and Baku.
The Islamic Republic will pay attention to the potential of Azerbaijan and other neighboring countries in its policies, Araqchi added.
While commenting on the process of investigating the nuclear deal in Iran and other P5+1 countries, he said neither Tehran nor other parties could revise the nuclear deal achieved between Iran and the six world powers in Vienna. Araqchi, who is Iran 's senior nuclear negotiator, underlined that they can only approve or reject the generalities of the deal.
Araqchi also said that despite the US, no one can veto parliament approval in Iran regarding the nuclear deal. If either the Supreme National Security Council of Iran or the parliament rejects the deal in general, it will be decided that the parties return to the negotiating table or not, he said.
On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the US, the UK, Germany, France, China, and Russia - reached an agreement over Tehran's nuclear program. Based on the agreement, Iran and the six powers agreed that all economic and financial sanctions against Iran will be removed through a Security Council resolution.
The senior Iranian diplomat also touched upon the Iran-Turkey ties, referring to the two neighboring countries' relations as "strong, old and widespread".
Tehran-Ankara ties have various political, economic and cultural dimensions, Araqchi said, adding the bilateral relations will continue strongly.
"We have differences in some issues and differences are serious on certain issues, however it doesn't mean that the two countries' relations will exit the true path."
After the Vienna nuclear deal the ties will be boosted and Turkey alongside with Azerbaijan as Tehran 's gateway to Europe will have an important role in development of the Islamic Republic's ties with the EU, he added.
Edited by CN