Crescent International
Iran's Foreign Minister Dr Mohammad Javad Zarif has dismissed the European Parliament's conditions about its delegation's visit to the Islamic Republic. Dr Zarif said Tehran would not allow such insulting demands and would not allow any such delegation to visit.
Tehran, Crescent-online
Sunday April 06, 2014, 13:23 DST
Iran’s Foreign Minister Dr Mohammad Javad Zarif has rejected the European Parliament’s (EP) conditions for its delegation to visit the Islamic Republic. Dr Zarif said the EP was in no position to dictate terms to a country like Iran that has thousands of years of history and culture.
Iran’s foreign minister strongly criticized a European Parliament resolution of April 3 in which it expressed “concerns” about alleged human rights violations in Iran. Dr Zarif said no parliamentary delegation from the body would be allowed to visit Iran on terms mentioned in the resolution.
The EP resolution attempted to cast doubt on Iran’s presidential election of last June claiming it was “not held according to the democratic standards valued by the EU.”
The resolution further demanded that any EP visits to the Islamic Republic should be based on the following conditions: its members must be able to meet what it said were “members of the political opposition and civil society activists, and to having access to political prisoners [in Iran].”
There was immediate reaction against such insulting and patronizing demands from different segments of Iranian society—official as well as civil. “The government will not allow any parliamentary delegation from Europe to travel to Iran on the conditions included in this European Parliament’s resolution,” Dr Zarif said in a meeting with members of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee today.
“The European Parliament is not in a position and does not have the moral authority to be able to express views about the situation in other countries,” he added. Iran’s foreign minister was clear and forthright when he said that it was obvious that the EP lacked legitimacy to advise others on observing human rights.
Dr Zarif insisted that the Islamic Republic “seeks interaction with other countries based on mutual respect and an equal footing, and the Europeans should know this. He went on to emphasize that the Islamic Republic “will not accept insulting and interfering attitude by any movement and country.”
In elaborating on the issue, Dr Zarif said that Tehran had credible information about pro-Israeli lobbies making strenuous efforts to raise false issues to sabotage “Iran’s positive and constructive negotiations with the P5+1 group” on the country’s nuclear energy program.” He noted that such Zionist plots had failed in the past and would fail against.
Iran has consistently called for negotiations on the basis of mutual respect and that the Islamic Republic would not accept any insulting or demeaning attitude from the Europeans or anyone else.
It is becoming clear that some Western countries are not interested in resolving the nuclear standoff that in any case is totally artificial, but that they want to dictate to other countries, especially a self-respecting country like Islamic Iran. The people of Iran have made great sacrifices for 35 years to maintain their dignity and honour and they are not prepared to sacrifice these just because a bunch of Europeans want to visit Iran.
Dr Zarif’s forthright stand is welcome and the Islamic Republic should stand firm on principles and not give an inch to the Europeans that conduct their policy on the basis of racism and discrimination. Which European country can claim that its human rights record meets even the minimum standards they themselves have set?
Immigrants within their societies are treated as “criminals” and there widespread discrimination. Dissent has or is being criminalized. The Europeans and their off-springs in North America and Australia have a horrible record of mistreating indigenous populations. Their Zionist cousins are now doing the same in Palestine. The Europeans and the North Americans are financing such criminal behaviour.
Perhaps, the Majlis in Iran should pass a resolution demanding that the Europeans and Americans should open their prisons for visits for a parliamentary delegation from Iran.
It would be interesting to see the reaction of the Europeans and the Americans.
END
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