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Iran's presence strengthening security in region

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Mon / 29 August 2022 / 13:33

Tehran (ISNA) - Iranian President reiterated the importance of Iran's presence in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and collaboration with the member states of the organization, saying that Iran is determined to expand cooperation with China in various fields.

President Ebrahim Raisi made the remarks while speaking on Monday in a press conference with local and foreign media on the occasion of the first anniversary of the formation of the Popular Administration and coinciding with the Government Week.

Regarding the achievement of the 13th Administration in the permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the role of this organisation in increasing the economic relations of Iran, Ayatollah Raisi stated, "Iran's presence and cooperation with the member countries of the SCO are very important. This membership links us to infrastructure in Asia".

The President described Iran's use of its share of trade and economy in the region as necessary and security-building and said, "The economic role of our country in Asia is not commensurate to Iran's capacities".

In another part of his speech, President Raisi mentioned the economic, commercial relations and international cooperation between Tehran and Beijing and said, "We are determined that the implementation of the 25-year programme of joint cooperation between Iran and China will not be affected by the international environment and other issues. This is a completely independent relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People's Republic of China, which should be developed in various fields, especially economic and commercial fields, and the two countries also decide to develop their relations".

Explaining the process of permanent membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Ayatollah Raisi added, "In the new summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which will be held in Uzbekistan, the documents of Iran's permanent membership will be reviewed, and naturally, this membership will be announced there more formal than in the past".

The President continued, "The membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran in organisations such as SCO and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is very important for us for international cooperation, especially communication with our neighbours. We seek balance in our relations with all countries, and this balance is always on the foreign policy agenda, especially towards neighbouring and friendly countries".

In response to the question of a reporter about the claims of the Zionist Regime authorities that they reserve the right to take action against the nuclear programme of the Islamic Republic of Iran, assuming an agreement is reached or not, Dr Raisi stated, "Nuclear industry and having a peaceful nuclear capability is the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran and no one can take this right away from the Islamic Republic".

The President noted, "We have stated many times that nuclear weapons have no place in our defence doctrine and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution has declared them forbidden, but at the same time, the Islamic Republic's access to nuclear capabilities that exist in many industries, in agriculture, and in various sectors including oil, gas and petrochemicals is our right".

Ayatollah Raisi said, "The Zionist Regime did not want the Islamic Republic to acquire this knowledge from the beginning, but today, against their will and against the will of the Arrogant, this knowledge has become domestic in our country, and it cannot be taken from our people and young experts in any way".

The President added, "The threats of the Zionist Regime have not -and will not- go anywhere. The assassination of our precious nuclear scientists was to stop this in the country, but they failed. Many acts of vandalism and sedition were meant to stop us, but we did not, and no action by the Zionist Regime and the Arrogant will stop us and prevent us from asserting this definite right of the Iranian nation".

Ayatollah Raisi emphasised, "Instead of threatening the Islamic Republic, the Zionist Regime should first see whether it can deal with the resistance forces in Palestine with these claims. Yesterday, it could withstand their stones, but today, can they cope with their rockets? It should to see if its situation is compatible with these threats? It should look around it and see if it can maintain its security with all these words that are being said today. This is being witnessed by all people around the world and everyone can see that despite the fact that Gaza has been besieged for many years and its people were oppressed there, they are defending themselves today. Can the Zionist Regime resist them?"

The President continued, "If the Zionist Regime could resist the great nation of Iran and our resistant warriors, why did they commit the cowardly assassination of Martyr Soleimani? Wasn't Martyr Soleimani the hero of the fight against terrorism in the region? Wasn't he the one who made the region safe for the people of the region and not just for Iran? Why were they afraid of him? Everyone is aware of their horror".

President Raisi stated, "What I want to tell them is to pay attention to the distance between their decision and action, if they decide to do something like this, maybe they will not be given a deadline to take action. They should pay attention that between this decision and its implementation, will there be anything left of the Zionist Regime or not?"

In response to an AFP reporter's question about the government's two promises to neutralise and lift the sanctions and the requirements to fulfil these two goals, the President said, "As we announced at the beginning, we are also pursuing the neutralisation of sanctions, and a mechanism and we have formed a task force under the management of the First Vice-President for that to follow the work of neutralising the sanctions, and we will continue efforts to lift the sanctions with the pivotal role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the negotiation team".

Ayatollah Raisi stated that we did not recognise many of the sanctions that were aimed to limit us, and added, "The amount of our exports shows that we do not recognise any restrictions for ourselves. The level of our foreign trade with regional countries has increased up to 4 times and sometimes 5 times. Oil exports have also increased. The Popular Administration has not seen itself within the limits of what the sanctioners want to put us in with the tool of sanctions".

Stating that we consider the sanctions against our country oppressive, but we do not recognise them as limitations for ourselves, the President stated, "The Islamic Republic never left the negotiation table to lift the sanctions. The oppressive sanctions must be lifted and those who reneged on their commitments and did not fulfil them must return to their commitments".

Ayatollah Raisi pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran is looking for a reassuring verification in the negotiations and obtaining confidence-building guarantees to lift the sanctions, and clarified, "Without the resolution of the safeguard issues, there is no meaning of an agreement, the agreement must be accompanied by the resolution of the safeguard issues and its termination. The Popular Administration has not failed and will not fail in neutralising and lifting the sanctions in relation to the interests of the great nation of Iran".

In response to the question of Yemen's Al-Masirah TV reporter about the role of Yemen under the leadership of Ansarullah in confronting the efforts of the Zionist Regime to expand its presence in the Red Sea, the President said, "Today, the people of Yemen have been resisting those who want to prevent them from their rights for 7 years. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always welcomed any ceasefire that guarantees the protection of the Yemeni people and lifts the blockade of this country".

President Raisi stated that the Zionist Regime's idea is that by announcing the normalisation of relations with some countries, it can create security for itself, and noted, "We believe that the Zionist Regime's relations with the countries of the region is not a security generator for the Zionist Regime".

Emphasising that history has shown that oppression is not sustainable and that the people of Palestine and Yemen will surely get their rights, the President added, "Many agreements were concluded from Sharm el-Sheikh to Oslo, and all these political plans were proposed, but they could not prevent the Palestinian people from pursuing their rights".

In response to the question of a reporter of the Russian Sputnik News Agency about the importance of relations between Iran and Russia in the context of confronting the unfriendly actions of Western countries and the level of progress of relations between them, the President said, "The cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with Russia is a strategic cooperation and we have good interactions and relations in the economic, commercial, energy, aerospace and other fields, which have been developing day by day, and the continuation of this process has been emphasised in the meetings of the officials of the two countries. Also, the initial version of the comprehensive cooperation programme between Iran and Russia has been exchanged between the two countries".

In response to the question of Al-Arabiya TV reporter of Qatar about the talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the prospects of the relations between the two countries and the improvement of the level of regional cooperation, President Raisi said, "The Popular Administration considers the development of neighbourly relations as the principles of its foreign policy, and in the first year of the government, this neighbourly policy was established, and in the coming years these relations will be upgraded from bilateral to multilateral, regional and international relations".

The President added, "The important thing that the people of Iran and the region should know is that our talks will be conducted within the region, about regional issues, and without foreign interference. We consider the presence of outsiders in the region not security-building, but creating problems, and we have always emphasised that the presence of Americans in the region will not bring us any security, but rather creates problems and endangers security".

Ayatollah Raisi continued, "Our emphasis to the neighbours is that you should not pursue your security with the presence of Americans or outsiders in the region. The security of the region is in the hands of the countries of the region, and the countries of the region can guarantee the security of the region on land, sea, air and space".

The President stated, "Regarding relations with Saudi Arabia, 5 rounds of negotiations have been held between the two countries, hosted by our friend and brother country, Iraq. The Saudi side has obligations the fulfilment of which will open the way for further actions, and surely the diplomatic relations between the two countries depend on the implementation of these obligations".

In response to the question of the reporter of Etela'at Newspaper about the government's approach in informing about the nuclear negotiations, Ayatollah Raisi said, "If the negotiations are accompanied by timely information, they can proceed very well, but if the information is not provided on time, it may disrupt the process of negotiations. Therefore, our emphasis to the negotiators is that when they reach a point where information must be provided, they should do so with the cooperation of the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs".

The President pointed out, "I believe and emphasise timely information regarding the negotiations and we are never in favour of confining information, but timely information can clarify the public opinion about the issue, and inform the media and elites. My impression is that this information was provided at different times, for example, at one point in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in a closed meeting, the relevant officials went there and gave reports and information, or at one point, they reported in an elite meeting, and in some places, the spokesperson of the Ministry Foreign Affairs or political deputy has made a public announcement".

Ayatollah Raisi emphasised, "In any case, regarding the point you mentioned, we believe that timely information about the negotiation and enlightenment of public opinion can definitely help the progress of the work".

In explaining the change of approaches in the Popular Administration, Iranian President called the first change of approach as being amongst the people and stated, "Being with the people" in the Popular Administration has focused on identifying problems, finding solutions, and following up on solving problems in the field".

Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi honoured the memory of the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution, especially the martyrs of the government and Haj Qasem Soleimani, and said, "I thank the Almighty that He made it possible for me to be able to serve the people for a year together with my colleagues".

Appreciating people's patience and cooperation with the government, the President added, "We should thank the Supreme Leader who always helped the government with his guidance in this one year, the institutions and organisations that helped the government in this one year and also the efforts of the press and the national media for explaining the services of the government and solving the ambiguities that exist in the society, and even the media that criticised the government out of compassion and for reform".

In explaining the implementation of his main election promise to change the approaches of the country's administration, President Raisi stated, "The first change in the approach that we insisted on in the Popular Administration was to be popular, among the people and with the people, which I have always expressed to all my colleagues".

Pointing out that some people blamed us for being in the provinces or among the people, the President clarified, "I think these people do not have the experience of being among the people and have not tasted the joy of this presence. Indeed, being with people and among people and field management is different from portfolio management. It makes a difference whether a person sits behind a desk and wants to manage or is present in the field and sees the condition of the people, is aware of their words and gets to know the problems and issues of the people in all parts of the country".

Ayatollah Raisi noted, "Being with the people and feeling the problems of the people closely is considered a principle and a change of approach in the Popular Administration, and it has always been emphasised to the statesmen that they should have this view of the people".

The President said, "Everywhere we went, we paid attention to know the problems and seek to solve them. All the trips of the Popular Administration and all our field presence have been to look at the problems, find a solution and pursue the solution to the problems".

The President called justice-orientedness as another approach to be considered in the Popular Administration and said, "The budget bill of 1401 was prepared based on a justice-oriented approach. Documenting the implementation of this justice is also done for the distribution of capacities and facilities in the country based on the spatial planning document".

Ayatollah Raisi explained the different aspects of justice and stated, "All actions must be directed towards justice so that we can move based on justice".

Emphasising that the fight against corruption, the reform of corrupt structures and corrupt people are among the serious decisions of the 13th Administration, President Raisi said, "The Presidential Inspection Office and intra-organisations regulatory bodies have been activated in this regard, and cases of violations have also been reported. The government immediately dealt with these cases and the offenders were handed over to the judicial system".

The President added, "There is no administration in the country without supervision and control. That is, managers, along with their management work, have the duty to fight against corruption, monitor and control their institutions and employees, so it is the statesmen themselves who must fight against corruption and deal with these violations".

President Raisi considered it necessary to fight corruption and be sensitive to reports of corruption by managers and stated, "We have stated many times that corrupt structures must be reformed in the government itself so that we do not witness cases in this field. It is very important to have a sense of anti-corruption".

Considering the possibility of corruption in various institutions, President Raisi noted, "By choosing trusted and competent people and reforming corrupt structures, one should not allow the appearance of a platform for corruption, but if corruption still occurs with all these measures, dealing with the corrupt can be a guarantee".

Referring to the importance of convergence and synergy of the country's executive bodies, the President clarified, "The government, institutions of the Islamic Revolution and even non-governmental organisations are defined alongside each other. In the resolutions of provincial trips and in performance reports, we don't only see the responsibility of the ministries, but all the responsible bodies divide the work".

Emphasising on preventing the government from being involved in unimportant matters, Ayatollah Raisi said, "In some periods, the governments were dragged into the margins instead of the text itself. Instead of solving people's problems, serving them, implementing justice and law, they were involved in the margins, so people are tired of this issue".

Referring to the statement of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution that "there is no problem in the country that cannot be solved", Ayatollah Raisi added, "When I go to the provinces with this view and participate in the meetings of the councils, I ask them whether the problems you say can be solved or not. If it can be solved, go find the solution so that we can follow the solution".

The President called the next change of approach as change of the perspective from outsiders to the capabilities of the country and stated, "Outsiders have not solved a problem for anyone, and they will not solve it for us either. Therefore, based on this belief, instead of hoping for foreigners, the Popular Administration placed hope on the capable hands of the people, young people, experts and efficient people inside the country".

Ayatollah Raisi continued, "We believe that placing hope on outsiders holds us back, and that is why the country has been held back in some areas for years and the necessary things were not done. The Popular Administration has looked at the inside and the many abilities and possessions that exist inside the country".

Dr Raisi described the next change of approach considered by the Popular Administration as a very important issue of the government's responsibility, making timely decisions and not holding the country back, and noted, "From the beginning, we laid the foundation for everyone in the government to be responsible and make the necessary decisions on time. The country needs solid and strong decisions to solve the problems".

Ayatollah Raisi stated, "If some decisions had been taken and implemented in the past 43 years with responsibility and at the right time, perhaps our situation would have been different from the current situation, especially in the economic fields".

Dr Raisi pointed out that when the Popular Administration began its term, 700 Iranian families were being bereaved daily due to coronavirus, and stated, "With the efforts of the medical staff, the faithful help of the people, and under the guidance of the Supreme Leader, the situation completely changed and we had days during which the daily number of COVID-19 victims reached zero".

Ayatollah Raisi added, "Despite the budget deficit in 1400, this problem was solved without borrowing from the central bank and without printing money. In Shahrivar 1400, we had almost 60% inflation, so the first step was to control the government itself so that inflation would not increase twice with inflationary measures".

Dr Raisi continued, "We reached a point where we saw that with the government's economic measures in March and April, the rate of inflation decreased, but the economic reforms in May caused a new 12% inflation".

Explaining the government's economic reforms, the President said, "Subsidy allocation was transferred from the beginning of the payment chain to the end of the chain and was given to the consumer; this was a big change. All the economists believed that the multi-rate currency is not desirable and it will definitely cause rent and corruption, so with the help of God and people's support, these reforms were carried out and the people really defeated the enemy".

Stating that inflation creates a basis for price increases, the President stressed the need to control it and said, "Current inflation is 40.5%, but in September of last year, there was nearly 60% inflation in the country. The government is determined to control and reduce inflation".

Ayatollah Raisi pointed out the problems of power outages at the beginning of the government's term and said, "We witnessed that many devices, refrigerators and equipment were broken in the workshops due to the power outage at the time of handing over to the government, but by the help of Almighty God, we no longer had power outages".

Referring to the measures taken in the 13th Administration in the electricity industry, which have been unprecedented in the past 25 years, the President said, "6,000 megawatts of electricity were produced and added to the grid. A lot of work should have been done in the past for the infrastructure to increase electricity production, which unfortunately has not been done. It was not time to discuss why these actions were not taken, but it was time that things should be done".

Explaining the government's measures to prevent natural gas outage in different regions of the country, Dr Raisi added, "In the northern provinces of the country, North Khorasan, Mazandaran, part of Khorasan Razavi, and parts of the country, we had natural gas outage, but this year we have had no natural gas outage with the help of gas swaps with other countries".

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