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Iran Says Willing to Improve Ties with Neighboring Countries

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (Tasnim)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (Tasnim)
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Iran Says Willing to Improve Ties with Neighboring Countries

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (Tasnim)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (Tasnim)

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran is willing to improve relations with neighboring countries, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported on Monday.

In a speech during the third Tehran Dialogue Forum 2022, Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran welcomes rebuilding trust and constructive cooperation with its neighbors, especially the Gulf countries.

He expressed Iran’s readiness to hold a meeting at the level of defense and foreign ministers of neighboring countries and countries bordering the Arabian Gulf to establish regional security in cooperation with these countries and enjoy a world where peace prevails.

The FM congratulated Qatar’s deputy foreign minister on the success of organizing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Doha’s cooperation with the Iranian football team.

In remarks about Ukraine, Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran’s fundamental policy is against the use of force and supports resolving the conflict through political means.

“Europe is paying the price for the policies of the United States towards Ukraine,” the FM stated.

He deemed as “baseless” the accusations against Tehran of providing drones to Russia and stressed that the West seeks to justify its support for the war through these accusations.

The forum kicked off its activities on Monday, with the participation of political officials, directors of think tanks and research institutes, intellectuals and researchers.

The event was held under the title: “The Neighborhood Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran... An Approach to Friendship and Trust-Building,” Germany’s news agency DPA reported.

Amir-Abdollahian said the summit Jordan will host this week could help move forward the talks on reviving the nuclear deal with world powers that have been stalled for months.

Jordan will host the second session of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership on Tuesday.

The event will bring together Iraq and its neighboring countries, as well as France. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and his assistant, Enrique Mora, the nuclear talks coordinator, will also attend.

Amir-Abdollahian said the event represents a good opportunity for Tehran to complete these talks.

The minister, who will represent his country at the summit, reiterated Iran's position, which holds the other party, especially the United States, responsible for not completing the talks that would revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.

He expressed hope to see “a change in the US approach” and for the US side to act in a realistic manner.

He urged Americans to choose between hypocrisy and the return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

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Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso Rule Out Returning to the ECOWAS Regional Bloc

Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
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Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso Rule Out Returning to the ECOWAS Regional Bloc

Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO

Military junta leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso on Saturday ruled out returning their nations to the West Africa regional bloc whose division could further jeopardize efforts to undo coups and curb violence spreading across the region.
The leaders of the three countries announced that position during their first summit in Niamey, the capital of Niger, after their withdrawal from the West Africa bloc known as ECOWAS in January, The Associated Press said.
They also accused the bloc of failing its mandate and pledged to consolidate their own union — the Alliance of Sahel States — created last year amid fractured relations with neighbors.
The nearly 50-year-old ECOWAS has become “a threat to our states,” said Niger’s military leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani.
"We are going to create an AES of the peoples, instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” he said.
The meeting of the three countries that border one another came a day before an ECOWAS summit being held in Nigeria by other heads of state in the region.
Analysts said the two meetings show the deep division in ECOWAS, which had emerged as the top political authority for its 15 member states before the unprecedented decision of the three countries to withdraw their membership.
Despite efforts by ECOWAS to keep its house united, the alliance between the three military junta-led countries will most likely remain outside the regional bloc as tensions continue to grow, said Karim Manuel, an analyst for the Middle East and Africa with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“Attempts at mediation will likely continue nonetheless, notably led by Senegal’s new administration, but it will not be fruitful anytime soon,” said Manuel.
Formed last September, the Alliance of Sahel States has been touted by the three junta-led countries as a tool to seek new partnerships with countries like Russia and cement their independence from former colonial ruler France , which they accuse of interfering with ECOWAS.
At the meeting in Niamey, Burkina Faso's leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, reaffirmed those concerns and accused foreign countries of exploiting Africa.
“Westerners consider that we belong to them and our wealth also belongs to them. They think that they are the ones who must continue to tell us what is good for our states. This era is gone forever; our resources will remain for us and our populations,” Traoré said.
“The attack on one of us will be an attack on all the other members,” said Mali’s leader, Col. Assimi Goïta.
With Goïta elected as the new alliance's leader, the three leaders signed a pact in committing their countries to creating a regional parliament and a bank similar to those operated by ECOWAS. They also committed to pooling their military resources to fight insecurity in their countries.
At a meeting of regional ministers on Thursday, Omar Alieu Touray, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, said it had not received "the right signals” about any possible return of the three states despite ECOWAS lifting coup-related sanctions that the three nations blamed for their decision to quit the bloc.
It is not only the three countries that are angry at ECOWAS, observers say. The bloc has lost goodwill and support from West African citizens so much that some celebrated the recent spate of coups in the region where citizens have complained of not benefitting from rich natural resources in their countries.
For the most part, ECOWAS is seen as representing only the interests of its members' leaders and not that of the masses, said Oge Onubogu, director of the Africa Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center think tank.