Foreign Ministry Rejects Rumor on Visa Limitations for Poles

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly rejected the rumors spread by some Polish media that Tehran has stopped issuing visas for tourists from Poland.

News ID: 75056

Date: 18 January 2019 - 19:28

Qassemi, in an announcement on Thursday, ruled out Polish media’s reports that Iran has stopped issuing tourist visas for Poles.

Polish private Radio Zet claimed on Wednesday that Iran refuses to issue tourist visas for Poles.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that Washington would jointly host a global summit focused on Iran and the Middle East next month in Poland.

The international gathering will take place in Warsaw from February 13 to 14, the US State Department said in a statement.

In a related front, former Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Kamal Kharrazi blasted Poland for surrendering to the US pressures to host an anti-Iran conference in Warsaw, describing the decision as an insult to all European nations.

"The US takes hostage Poland's national interests by holding the propaganda-political show in the country and Warsaw's surrendering to the US administration's blackmail is an insult to the European identity and the European nations," said Kharrazi.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at the anti-Iran conference, describing it as a “desperate circus” that will disgrace the participants.

“Reminder to host/participants of anti-Iran conference: those who attended last US anti-Iran show are either dead, disgraced, or marginalized. And Iran is stronger than ever,” Zarif said in a Friday tweet.

Zarif also strongly criticized the Polish government for hosting the conference, reminding Warsaw of thousands of Polish refugees saved by Iran during the Second World War.

“Polish Govt. can't wash the shame: while Iran saved Poles in WWII, it now hosts desperate anti-Iran circus,” he went on to say.

Also, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani underlined that the anti-Tehran conference indicated that the US sanctions against Iran had yielded no results.

"Turning sanctions with utmost pressures into seminar and congress means that you are empty-handed‌," Shamkhani told reporters in Tehran on Saturday.

His remarks alluded to the US administration's attempts to put utmost pressures on Iran through sanctions.

On Monday, Qassemi warned Polish officials that hosting the upcoming US-backed anti-Iran conference will be a miscalculation, reassuring that Warsaw will gain no special advantage currying favors with Washington.

Qassemi urged Poland not to compromise mutual ties by hosting a US summit against Iran in the hope of currying favors with Washington.

"The great human heritage and relations between Iran and Poland should not be ignored and destroyed through a short-term and futile political measure," Qassemi told an Iranian news outlet.

"It looks like Poland has ended up on the path of the White House's anti-Iranian behavior and policies as a result of the United States' promises and pressures," he noted.

The official reminded that the countries' relations date back more than five centuries and that Iran hosted upwards of 120,000 Poles during World War II.

Warsaw hosts Iran-Poland Friendship Symbol, Qassemi said, advising Polish officials to pay a visit to the stone slate, which has been set up to honor the two countries' shared past.

He warned that Poland's decision will certainly be followed by Iran's "serious and uncompromising response," and hoped that Warsaw will still reconsider hosting the event.

The Iranian diplomat said the summit represented US efforts to divide the European Union over Iran. He said the current antagonism on the part of American officials towards Iranians is no secret and that the gathering has been organized against the background of such animosity.

Warsaw's decision contradicts the EU's policies on Iran, the spokesman said, calling it "wrong and unacceptable”.

Qassemi said that Polish officials are definitely wrong by assuming that hosting the US summit will help them gain special advantages.

"There has been no shortage of countries and leaders, who have carried out such miscalculations concerning Iran. Eventually, however, they have been left with nothing beyond a bad and dark precedent in the annals of their relations with the Iranian nation," the official said.

In a related front, the Iranian foreign ministry summoned Polish Chargé d’Affaires to Tehran Wojciech Unolt to protest at Warsaw's decision to host a US-backed anti-Iran conference next month.

"This is a hostile move by the US against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Poland is expected not to accompany the US in holding the conference," the head of the foreign ministry's first department for Eastern Europe said in a meeting with Unolt in Tehran on Sunday.

Unolt, for his part, underlined that the conference is not against Iran and his country's positions are different from the recent remarks of the US officials, adding that he would convey Tehran's concerns to Warsaw.

But the Iranian official said that Unolt's explanations are not enough and the Polish government should compensate for the move, warning that Iran will be forced to adopt reciprocal actions in case Warsaw continues the policy.

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