Iran’s role in region must be respected: British MP

London, Nov 7, IRNA - Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Saudi Arabia Daniel Kawczynski stresses that Iran’s role and position in the region should be respected. Iran’s role in region must be respected: British MP Kawczynski made the remarks in an exclusive interview with IRNA in London on Sunday. He referred to Iran as 'one of the greatest civilizations on earth. It is one of the richest cultures in history. A country that is advancing hugely. It has some of the best scientists and engineers in the world.' As for Iran's role in the region, he said, 'There has to be respect for Iran and Iran’s position. There also has to be engagement and dialogue with Iran.' Commenting on Iran-Britain relations, he said that the two sides have had 'very volatile' ties over many years and have now 'entered into a period where there is relative calm and stability and progress in dialogue on the two-way relations.' 'There are still differences between the two sides because of the things that other partners in the Persian Gulf were bringing to them.' Kawczynski who has been the chairman of the Saudi Group in the House of Commons for the last twelve years and has taken 'many delegations to Saudi Arabia' said, 'but of course they make a very strong allegation against Iran' about what he referred to as 'meddling in Yemen'. Saudi rulers continuously accuse Iran of meddling in the internal affairs of Yemen while it leads a nine-nation coalition which has started a brutal military onslaught against the Yemeni people since March 26, 2015, causing the defenseless people of the Arab country to live in critical conditions. According to the United Nations, the brutal Saudi-led war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 and displaced more than three million people. The country is already on the brink of famine. Now all homes, markets, hospitals, schools, civilian businesses and mosques across the war-torn nation are being showered with the Saudi rockets and even internationally banned cluster bombs. Earlier in October 2016, the Saudi-led coalition bombed a funeral procession in Yemen killing 140 people and leaving injured 600 more. Kawczynski believes 'A lot of problems in the middle East extend from the real impasse and difficulties that Iran and Saudi Arabia have,' therefore, he argued, 'Until we get Saudi and Iran talking to one another we would always be firefighting various regional problems in the region.' 'What I like to see is roundtable and extensive discussions between the two regional powers. Russia has a much better and longer relationship with Iran than we do. We are closer to Saudi Arabia historically. It would take cooperation between Russia and Britain to try to bring these two countries together in roundtable discussions. 'That needs to happen and as long as this doesn’t happen we will continue to have real tensions and instability in the region. It seems to me that it is so difficult for Iran and Saudi to break that impasse that they have between them. They are almost tied in this struggle with one another which is quite extraordinary ; I have not really come across quite like it. I am very disappointed that Britain and Russia haven’t tried to do more to bring them to the table.' The British politician stressed that international crisis cannot be solved 'without the input of various global powers. So the more that we cooperate with Russia and understand their perspective, the easier it will be to try to then solve regional problems in the middle east like the one Iran and Saudi Arabia has.' Commenting on the reports issued by the British House of Common on the war crimes happening in Yemen by the Saudi’s bombing Campaign, Kawczynski said, 'There are moves by certain MPs in the house of common to even block all arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Leading members of the labor party have tried to use the civilian casualties in Yemen to make their allegation. 'The trouble is of course when you are talking about Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen, there will be civilian casualties. No matter how professional the pilots are and how targeted are the weaponry, with great sadness there will be mistakes and civilian casualties will come to the fore.' What is vital is that when there are allegations about targeting civilians, 'there is as much scrutiny as possible and lessons are learnt from those mistakes,' said the official. 1378/IRNA