Larijani:

Iran committed to friendly ties with Qatar

TEHRAN (defapress) – Parl. Speaker Larijani, while voicing regret over the ongoing Saudi-led diplomatic and trade boycott against Qatar, stressed Iran’s commitment to its friendly relations with the peninsular Arab country.

News ID: 68121

Date: 17 January 2018 - 10:00

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani made the remarks in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart, Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, on the sidelines of the 13th session of Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) Conference on Tuesday in Tehran, adding “we do not believe that the use of sanctions regime is a rightful method to deal with countries.”

Larijani was referring to the move initiated by Saudi Arabia on June 5 last year, and later joined by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, the Maldives, Djibouti, Senegal and the Comoros in cutting off all diplomatic ties with Qatar by accusing the country of “sponsoring terrorism.” Qatar has strongly dismissed such allegations.

The Speaker of the Advisory Council of Qatar, for his part, highlighted dialogues as the way to settle disputes between countries, and slammed certain countries’ inclination toward military aggression and violence.

He hailed Iran’s stance as based on friendship and rationality, saying his country values the friendly ties with the Islamic Republic.

“Qatar was dragged into a big conspiracy the roots of which are still unknown, but what is certain is that each country should take steps that would not endanger its own interests, as well as those of other nations in the region,” he said.

He went on to add that Qatar had been careful not to harm its relations with other countries, and while it had stayed committed to all its agreements with the UAE, the country still joined the Saudi-led diplomatic and trade boycott against his country.