Abdollahiyan: time to translate regional security into a multilateral format

In anticipation of the start of the third round of negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis, according to tradition bearing the title "Geneva-2", Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahiyan visited Moscow, where he presented the point of view of the Islamic Republic on the negotiation process between the Damascus authorities and the opposition, as well as many other topical issues of the Middle East region. The diplomat also replied to a question from VK on the possibility of creating a new non-aligned security in the South Caucasus with the participation of key regional players such as Russia, Turkey and Iran.

Primarily, Abdollahiyan stressed that the Middle East and North Africa are the two regions now experiencing one of the key pages of their history. "We are constantly consulting with Russia on all the events happening in these regions, for example, today with the Deputy Foreign Minister we discussed Palestine, Lebanon, the situation in Bahrain and, of course, Syria. Thus, we agreed that Egypt should as soon as possible return to the path of democracy, and dialogue between the opposition and the authorities will contribute to the resolution of this issue," he said.

The view of Tehran and Moscow on Syria remain the same: both countries will continue to support the Syrian people as long as they have not democratically determined their own destiny. "We believe that the conference "Geneva-2 " was not a success because the real state of affairs has not been given due attention. The U.S. and other countries insisted only on creating a transitional government, the opposition that participated there represented only 3% of the population, and almost everyone except Damascus and Moscow ignored the issue of terrorism in Syria. Of course, we distinguish the opposition that believes in a political solution from the issue of terrorists, but we insist on dialogue at regional level. The Geneva talks should continue for as long as they are not attended by representatives of all groups of the Syrian people: only then can we expect clear and precise results. The task of foreign countries is support for these negotiations," Hossein Amir Abdollahiyan says.

With regard to relations with the Gulf countries, according to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran they are formed on the basis of brotherhood. "Of course, there are differences with Saudi Arabia in their views on regional policy, but we have a high level of interaction that develops its own way. The initiative of President Hassan Rouhani is to welcome the strengthening and expansion of relations with the Persian Gulf," the diplomat says.

Undoubtedly, the Iranian politician could not ignore the current state of negotiations to close the Iranian nuclear dossier. "We are optimistic in regard to Iran's nuclear program, but we believe that the West needs to prove that it is ready to go forward, so we can trust them. The overall result depends on how all parties are willing to take practical steps. Along the way, all sanctions must be lifted in order to replace the atmosphere of pessimism with that of trust," Abdollahiyan said.

Answering a question from VK about security in the South Caucasus, the Iranian diplomat agreed with the possibility of creating a new system with major regional players. "First, I want to say that Iran is the safest country in the region, despite the fact that some of our neighbors, I mean Iraq and Afghanistan, are not in a very safe situation. We believe that new initiatives are necessary in order to provide collective security in the region. At the moment cooperation to ensure regional security is conducted between countries on a bilateral level, and we see the potential for changing it into a multilateral format, and also the format for creating blocs ," deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Hossein Amir Abdollahiyan replied.