‘Détente with neighbors should be Iran’s foreign policy priority’

TEHRAN,April 29(MNA) – Iranian former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who is a member of a three-member principlist coalition planning to contest the 2013 presidential election, said on Sunday that détente with its neighbors should be Iran’s top foreign policy priority. Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Supreme Leader, also said that the country’s national security could be promoted through fostering friendly relations with neighboring countries. Commenting on the dispute between Iran and world powers over the country’s nuclear activities, he said that the nuclear issue could be resolved and sanctions could be lifted without relinquishing the right to advance the country’s peaceful nuclear program. On the role of the Islamic Republic in the region, he said that no major regional issue could be settled without Iran’s involvement. “If the international community is seeking to resolve crises in Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and other countries, it should be aware that it will not be able to do so without Iran’s effective involvement,” he said. “The extent of a country’s influence in other countries shows the country’s political power, so the extent of our influence in the region and the world illustrates the fact that we are powerful in the region,” he added. On his plans to boost the country’s economy if elected, Velayati said that there was no need to draw up new major economic plans, adding that the development and outlook plans that had already been devised should be properly implemented in order to improve the country’s economic situation.