Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei responded to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statements against Iran’s regional policy, Mehr reports.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei reiterated Iran’s commitment to its “principled positions,” stressing that the country does not change its policy on a daily basis.
“We are unwavering in our principled positions and do not switch from one policy to another every day. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported resistance, honestly confronting illegal behavior and terrorism,” Baghaei wrote on social media.
He also emphasized Iran’s leading role in the fight against terrorism. “We were the first country to raise the banner of fighting Daesh (ISIS) and violent extremism with the hands of our national hero, martyr (anti-terrorism commander General Qasem) Soleimani, and we defeated them in the region.”
Baghaei also stressed Iran’s long-standing opposition to extremism and its efforts to stabilize neighboring countries, PressTV reported.
He pointed to Tehran’s early opposition to the coup attempt against the Turkish government, saying, “We were the first country to oppose and confront the coup against the Turkish government. We were among the first to welcome the disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and considered it an important step to strengthen security in our neighbor Turkey.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Al Jazeera earlier that Iran “has sacrificed a lot of resources for its gains in the region.”
Speaking about Iran’s policy after the events in Syria, Fidan said, “The issue of Iran’s foreign policy through militias in regional countries is a policy that Iran has been pursuing at great risk for a long time. It has achieved some successes, but the price it has paid to maintain these successes is much higher. In order to preserve its gains in Iraq and Syria, Iran has had to sacrifice much more than these gains.”
Fidan said he told Iranian officials in talks that this foreign policy approach must change.
According to him, “even though such a policy brings some results, in the long term and structurally it creates a great burden for both the Iranian system and the region.”
“Iran has learned great lessons from the events of the new era, regional solidarity must be strengthened. Now is not the time to continue the old mistakes,” he added.