Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the Treaty on Strategic Partnership between Iran and Russia shows that none of the nations will succumb to excessive demands, with both being able to protect security and develop economy in the region together.
President Pezeshkian made the comment in an interview with Russia’s Channel One during his daylong trip to Moscow on January 17 when he and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin signed the Treaty on Strategic Partnership between their countries.
Iran is not a newly created country established based on the viewpoints of those pushing for their excessive demands, said Pezeshkian, adding that Iran has existed and continues to exist, with the Tehran-Moscow Strategic Partnership Treaty showing “neither Iran nor Russia will give in to the demands they want.”
The two countries have the ability to adopt policies, develop economy, and ensure security, tranquility and development in the region together, he further said.
On Iran-Russia security arrangements, he said that both sides have pledged not to cooperate with a third party who attacks one of them, adding that security cooperation is underway between the two countries, the details of which will be set based on next agreements.
President Pezeshkian also responded to a question on why Iran continues to exercise restraint in the face of Western-pushed attempts to accuse Iran of supporting terrorism and seeking to attain a nuclear bomb despite the fact that the country has constantly cooperated with the international community, and has been subjected to economic terrorism by the West, especially the US.
"We are not seeking war, bloodshed, or unrest, but they want to promote and create the idea in the minds of the world that we want to make nuclear bombs and that we are causing insecurity in the region. They should count the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime and the US in the region and compare them with other acts of terrorism; they are not even comparable!”
“Those who kill people claim to defend human rights, while those who die from bombs and terrorism are labeled terrorists? Are women, children, and the sick who are killed considered terrorists?" Pezeshkian further said in reference to the killing of civilians by the Israeli regime during its 15-month-old war on Gaza, which took place amid inaction by the international community including Western states who even supported the regime.
The president said that Iranians have never initiated a war, nor have they been involved in assassinations in other countries. Western countries are in control of media, and force some international organizations to approve and implement what they want through sanctions and intimidation and sometimes money, he added.
They are now seeking to tell the world that Iran is after a nuclear bomb, Pezeshkian said. That’s while, he added, Iran has not been, is not, and will not be after nuclear weapons based on the views of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as well as policies and religious beliefs. They seek to create Iranophobia, the president said.
Pezeshkian also said that the Zionist regime assassinated Iranian commanders and scientists under the pretext that they had created insecurity in the region. The regime also assassinated Hamas Political Leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was the official guest of the Islamic Republic, he added in reference to Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran on July 31 a day after his inauguration as president.
On Iran’s defense power and achievements in producing missiles and drones, President Pezeshkian said that the Islamic Republic continues to enhance its military power in the face of possible attacks, but at the same time, it also strengthens unity, which he said is crucial in thwarting any hostile move.
Further in his remarks, Pezeshkian dismissed the Zionist regime’s claims that the Islamic Republic is anti-Semitic, noting that Iran is not against anybody, but it opposes crimes and tyranny. Iran believes all followers of divine religions are respectable, he added.
As to the negative role of foreign powers in the region, the president said that certain powers create unrest in the West Asia region to loot its oil, gas and minerals.
Answering a question about Pezeshkian’s friendship with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Iranian president said: "We are gradually aligning our perspectives."
Pezeshkian said that he and all those advocating for freedom and independence share the same view with President Putin that unilateralism is rejected.