PESHAWAR: Director General of the Iranian Culture Centre in Peshawar, Ali Yousafi, said on Friday that a conspiracy was being hatched to create misconceptions and conflicts between Iran and Saudi Arabia to weaken these developed Islamic countries.

During his visit to Peshawar Press Club on Friday, the envoy told journalists that some anti-Islam elements were active to target Muslim countries and incite them against each other, adding that Iran had a great respect towards all the Arab countries, particularly Saudi Arabia due to the sacred Harmain Sharefain. He said that the anti-Islamic elements would be unable to succeed in their nefarious designs.

He said that Iran wanted to play its role for peaceful settlement of international and regional disputes through negotiations.

Ali Yousafi says Iran has great respect for all Arab countries

“Our enemies can easily target us if we have differences in our ranks,” he said and asked all the Islamic countries to unite for facing the upcoming challenges, including terrorism and extremism.

Appreciating the role of Pakistan in the prevailing situation, he said that this country had always played a role of mediator in establishing peace in the region. He lauded the role of Pakistani government and political leaderships for defusing tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

He particularly mentioned the meeting of PTI chairman Imran Khan with Iranian Ambassador in Pakistan after the attack on Saudi embassy in Tehran. He said that the government of Iran had dismissed the security officials deployed for protection of Saudi embassy, and the names of responsible people would be made public and action taken against them according to the law.

He praised the role of OIC for de-escalating the ongoing tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia and hoped that everything would be settled soon.

Mr Yousafi said that his country always looked to strengthen bilateral relations, trade, tourism and people-to people contacts with Pakistan. About lifting of global sanctions on Iran, he said the removal of sanctions would give further boost to economic and trade relationship with other countries, particularly with Pakistan. He, especially mentioned the recent agreement between the government of Balochistan and the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan to make Gwadar and Chabahar as ‘sister port cities’.

Talking to about Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iran (TAPI) gas pipeline project, he said that Iran had completed the construction work on its side. He said that the project would be accelerated following lifting of sanctions on Iran.

He said that a number of cultural events would be held in the centre during the first week of February in connection with Nauroz festival. He said that the culture centre would organise a pictorial exhibition from Feb 1 to 11, depicting the Iranian Revolution.

Earlier, Mr Yousafi congratulated the newly-elected cabinet of the press club, headed by its president Bukhar Shah Bacha.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2016