For Iran, neighbors always come first, Zarif says at 24th ECO summit

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is in Turkey to attend the 24th meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), says for Tehran “neighbors always come first.”

“Pleased to be in Turkey, attending 24th ministerial meeting of the ECO,” Zarif wrote in a tweet on Saturday, hours after taking part in the meeting with his Pakistani and Turkish counterparts.

“In keeping with Iran’s foreign policy that posits our neighbors should always come first, regional cooperation remains a priority,” he said. “We hope this cooperation can be welcomed by neighbors to our south, too.”

Speaking at the summit, the Iranian top diplomat called on the two neighbors to use the ECO to its full potential in order to grow closer ties between the members and use their funds as well.

“With a population of around half a billion people, incredible geographic situation, vast energy and mineral resources, advanced human resources, huge commercial market as well as cultural and historical similarities the ECO has all of the required parameters to succeed in multilateral cooperation between nations,” he said.

Zarif argued that a lack of appropriate design for economic cooperation was the primary challenge facing the ECO.

He said the ECOTA or the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement and other internal arrangements of the ECO needed to become operational so that all traders could get involved in the advancement of the Middle East region and its nations.

Using national currencies for bilateral trade, reducing the costs and speeding up the customs clearance were some of the measures that Zarif said could be taken to boost cooperation.

Zarif hails Erdogan’s comments on Iraq unrest 

Earlier, Zarif met with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, during which he praised the remarks recently made by Turkey’s president, where they discussed bilateral ties, latest developments in the region and bilateral cooperation within the ECO.

PressTV-Iraqi forces retake key bridges from protesters

Iraqi security forces have regained control of three bridges in central Baghdad which were partially occupied by anti-government protesters in recent days.

Zarif also hailed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent remarks about the ongoing unrest in Iraq.

Earlier on Saturday, Erdogan said he knows who is behind the recent anti-government protests in Iraq.

"We can guess who is behind the unrest in Iraq,” he said on Saturday, concluding that the unnamed conspirators behind the deadly protests in Iraq were after "dividing the Islamic World."

“What makes us worry about the problems of people who are thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers away from our country is Islam as a common denominator and the consciousness of being an Ummah,” he said.

“Universal Muslim fellowship has no limits. No one can sow discord among us,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Anadolu news agency.

Erdоgаn also speculated that those behind Iraq’s unrest probably planned to spread the protests into Iran.

Late last month, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned that the US and Western spy services, with the financial help of the reactionary Arab regimes, are seeking to instigate "dangerous hostilities" in Iraq and Lebanon despite their people's "legitimate demands." 

PressTV-‘US, West spy services inciting unrest in regional states’

Ayatollah Khamenei blames the US and Western intelligence agencies for instigating protests and advises the governments and people of Lebanon and Iraq to work towards peace.

Ayatollah Khamenei described insecurity as “the biggest damage” a country could suffer, warning against plots being pursued by the enemies to rob regional countries of security.

The elements instigating such “dangerous hostilities” are known, said the Leader, adding that “the US and the Western intelligence services, financed by certain reactionary countries of the region, are behind such incidents.”

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in reference to the latest bout of violent protests that have gripped Iraq and Lebanon for several weeks.

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