Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei said on Wednesday that France would hopefully make decisions on Iran independent from the US.
In a meeting with French Ambassador to Iran François Sénémaud on Wednesday, he referred to Iran’s stances on international developments, saying, “We expect Europeans to recognize the framework of the Islamic Republic and respect it. This is a new model and we propose the westerners not to run against this model and let cooperation continue.”
Referring to Iran’s large-scale campaign against terrorism, he said, “We have dedicated martyrs and many have been injured in the fight against Daesh and drug smuggling.”
If the operations against drug trafficking and terrorism did not exist, they would have made their ways to Europe, he said.
Referring to the activities of terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in France, Rezaei said that today the country has turned into a safe haven for terrorists who have committed many crimes in Iran.
MKO has killed over 17,000 people in Iran and assassinated many statesmen, children and women and now they are freely holding conference in Paris and are seeking to carry out destructive acts in Iran, he said addressing the French ambassador.
As to Iran’s missile capabilities, he said that missile is the most significant deterrent weapon and a replacement for modern military planes such as Mirage, noting, “In the event of any attack, we will defend ourselves and this is not a very complicated issue.”
It seems that the Europeans are pretending to be unaware of these issues and instead have chosen to put pressure on Iran, he said.
“We recommend you not to play the US game and we will not give up the issue because it is vital,” Rezaei said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the SNSC secretary said that the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia have inflicted huge costs on Europe.
‘Ties with Saudi Arabia may have benefits for you, but this has expenses for you, too,’ he said, ‘European members of Daesh have been trained in Saudi-run centers.
Sénémaud, for his part, described the role of Iran’s Expediency Council as significant and said France is well aware of Iran’s counter-terrorism actions.
Daesh came into existence rapidly and France was quick at realizing that the issue would endanger its security on its soil, he said.
Iran’s missile capabilities can be evaluated at different levels, he said, adding that the first level is Iran’s defense doctrine which France understands. The French envoy said nobody tells Iran to have any missile at all.
The second level is regional tensions which must be taken into account and ways should be explored to reduce them, he said, pointing out, “We speak clearly with all countries.
The French president talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump over phone from time to time but he does not say pleasant words to him all the time, he said, noting that for example, two months ago, they discussed two points they disagreed upon.
“First was the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which the US intends to scrap but we want to keep and the second was relocation of US embassy to Quds, to which French president is opposed on grounds that it would entail heavy consequences,” he said.
The French ambassador said that bilateral exchanges reached four billion dollars in 2017 and France is the first European customer to buy Iranian crude oil worth two million euros.