Interaction with other countries based on mutual respect can prove helpful: Iranian EC chairman

TEHRAN,May 4(MNA) – Iran’s Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that effective interaction with other countries can help resolve the problems facing the country. Ayatollah Rafsanjani made the remarks in Tehran on Thursday during a meeting with a number of the members of the Workers’ House, a day after International Workers’ Day. During the meeting, the former pragmatic president said that the country’s problems can be resolved through fostering national unity, building up trust between the people and officials, establishing “peaceful” relations with other countries, and interacting with them based on “mutual respect”. The arrogant powers are seeking to deal a blow to the Islamic system by claiming that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, has a poor human rights record, and support terrorism, added Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who some believe may make a comeback bid for the presidency this year. “As we have always emphasized, the Supreme Leader’s fatwa (religious edict), which says nuclear weapons are haram (prohibited in Islam), is above any political commitments, and I believe that if the Westerners abandon their illogical insistence and observe Iran’s rights to use nuclear energy in health-care, agricultural, and industrial sectors and for electricity generation, getting out of the current situation will not be difficult.” Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa in 2005, declaring that the production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons are all haram. “While the Islamic Republic of Iran is the greatest victim of terrorism, the enemies are accusing us of supporting terrorism and have granted refuge to… terrorists in their countries,” said Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989 to 1997. Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Rafsanjani commented on the problems that laborers are experiencing in the country, and said that the rise in unemployment, failure to pay salaries on due date, low salaries, the rise in inflation, and social gap did not befit the Islamic system. “The existing problems have partly been caused by the imposed sanctions and have partly been caused by poor management,” he added.