Khatibzadeh noted that Assadollah Assadi’s imprisonment and conviction were faulty and violated the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

“The European parties involved in the case of Assadollah Assadi have been called to account,” Khatibzadeh said.

His comments came after an appellate court denied appeals filed by three persons who are said, in line with “unfounded and baseless accusations,” to have been “connected” to Assadi.

“Unfortunately, today, under the pretext of holding appeals court for the three foregoing people, we are once again witnessing fabricated lies by Western media about Mr. Assadi, a diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he remarked.

“As said in the past, the entire procedures of detention, trial, and issuance of legal verdict against Assadi have taken place in complete violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the spokesman underscored.

“The Islamic Republic has officially communicated its protest over the matter to Austria, Germany, and Belgium, repeatedly rejecting the accusations that have been leveled against the diplomat, and insisting that he should be immediately released,” Khatibzadeh stated.

He described the entire situation as a pre-planned scenario carried out by the MKO with the objective of inciting Iranophobia.

Belgian officials said in June 2018 that they had seized a vehicle carrying homemade explosives and a detonation device, stating that Assadi had already sent the materials to two persons in Belgium. The next day, he was caught in Germany and told that he could not use his diplomatic immunity.

After being accused of organizing an assault against the anti-Iran terrorist MKO organization, a Belgian court sentenced him to 20 years in jail.

Since the triumph of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, the terror group has carried out countless killings and bombings against Iranian authorities and civilians. About 12,000 of the roughly 17,000 Iranians murdered as a result of the MKO’s act of terror.

The group is notorious for taking sides with the former Iraqi despot, Saddam Hussein, who inflicted a war on Iran.

Until 2012, the terrorist group was on the U.S. list of terrorist groups.

Since then, however, it has been actively promoted by the West as an “Iranian opposition group” and has enjoyed from heavy Western lobbying.

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Speaking in his weekly press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh pointed out some international issues and answered a number of questions raised by the reporters.

Stressing that the pause in Vienna negotiations is at the request of the EU coordinator to the talks, Khatibzadeh said that the negotiations can resume and the agreement would be reached as soon as the US makes the necessary decisions.

Iranian spokesman added that the current U.S. administration has every day shown a different act in the negotiations and thinks it could deprive Iran of its national interests by bringing up issues like the deadlines.

Answering a question about the U.S. deadline for Moscow to reclaim its demands to the talks, Khatibzadeh said that the U.S. is not yet a party to the deal since it has withdrawn from the deal in 2018 and cannot decide such issues.

The date for returning to the talks will be announced by the EU coordinator Enrique Mora and Josep Borrell, Khatibzadeh noted.

Referring to the Tehran-Riyadh talks, the senior Iranian diplomat stressed, “A date was announced by our friends in Iraq for the fifth round of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia. This date is not finalized yet. I will announce the date as soon as it is finalized and the two sides agree on a date.”

Khatibzadeh also condemned the massive execution in Saudi Arabia, saying, “This is inhumane and contrary to the axioms of international law, and unfortunately in the days when the whole world is talking about human rights, human rights assemblies are silent and the European Union and the Commissioner for Human Rights are silent.”

Commenting on the IRGC’s missile attack on Mossad bases in Erbil on Sunday, Khatibzadeh said that Iran by no means accepts that one of its neighbors, who has deep relations and interaction with it, will be the center of threat to Iran.

Citing that the Zionist regime has repeatedly caused insecurity from inside Iraq, and has formed several counter-revolutionary and terrorist groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Khatibzadeh noted that Iran would not let the centers of sabotage and sending terrorist groups to be near its borders.

He also called the Iraqi central government to end such situations and not to allow the Iraqi borders to be abused.

Khatibzadeh went on to warn the Israeli regime by saying that Iran has the intelligence aristocracy about all the places they have a presence.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khatibzadeh announced that the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is set to visit Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the Vienna talks and crisis in Ukraine.

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While representatives of countries in the United Nations were focused on accusing Russia for its military operation in Ukraine and condemning Russian move, on Monday in a contradictory move they imposed embargo on Yemeni group Houthi who is fighting for the independence of Yemen and this revealed the double standard policy of some countries regarding sovereignty of the countries.

On Monday, the 15-member Council voted in favor of expanding a targeted UN arms embargo on several leaders of the Houthi Ansarullah movement to the entire group.

The movement has taken charge of running Yemen since 2015, when the country’s former Western- and Saudi-allied government fled amid a political crisis refusing to stay behind and negotiate a solution.

A Saudi-led coalition featuring many of Riyadh’s allies then invaded Yemen to reinstate the officials.

The war, which has been enjoying almost uninterrupted arms, logistical, and political support from the United States, has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, and turned Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Iran was the only country which denounced the United Nations Security Council’s recent extension of an arms embargo against Yemen’s popular Houthi resistance movement, which has been defending the country against a Saudi-led war since 2015.

The resolution “bears negative repercussions for the path towards peace,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Tuesday.

The resolution strongly condemned counterattacks by Yemeni fighters, including those on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — Riyadh’s main ally in the war coalition — and demanded immediate cessation of the reprisal.

The resolution, Khatibzadeh added, has been adopted in line with “the political considerations and lobbying of members of the aggressor coalition.”

It, therefore, runs counter to the efforts that are being spent to revive the political process by further distancing the positions of the parties to the conflict, noted the official.

Khatibzadeh slammed the Security Council for having “distanced itself from its inherent duties” regarding Yemen since the onset of the Saudi-led war and turning a blind eye to the crimes committed by the aggressors.

This, he added, had contributed to “systematic and serious violations of the international humanitarian laws, massacre of civilians, extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure, and illegal embargo of [Yemen’s] ports and airports,” amid international silence.

Such an approach further complicates the prospect of achieving a “fair” and “lasting” peace, Khatibzadeh added.

This resolution and embargo is exactly the opposite of the UN claims of defending rights and sovereignty of the nations while everybody sees this claim being observed regarding the Ukraine crisis. Nowadays the UN is busy with taking actions against Russia while it ignores rights of countries like Yemen.

One should ask the UN what the difference is between Ukraine and Yemen that one gets full support and at the same time Yemen is punished. What is the sin of Yemenis to be punished? Is defending sovereignty is a sin then why the UN does not punish Ukraine?

This kind of double standard approach to the international events makes the nations lose their hopes and trusts to the international bodies which are fully under the control of the Westerners and big powers.

It is strange countries like Russia and China have also voted for embargo of the Yemenis while they are themselves under attacks of the Westerners.

The Islamic Republic of Iran once again proved that it is the only country that can be trusted by allies, and its friends will benefit from the friendship with Tehran. Tehran has shown that it never sells its allies for the sake of its benefits and for this reason its allies stick to their anti-arrogant stance.

The UN and international bodies which are nowadays busy with imposing sanctions and condemnation on Russia for the Ukraine crisis are better to act fairly and put the biased stance aside and defend the rights of nations like Palestinians, Yemenis and Afghanistanis who are suffering from the unilateral actions of the West and even the international bodies. The more this condition continues, the more the UN turns into a useless body for resolving global disputes.

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So far, Iran and Saudi Arabia have held four rounds of talks to settle their disputes. Iraq has been hosting the talks.

Khatibzadeh said contacts between the two countries have never been cut off.

“The talks have been held in Baghdad, that is, we have sat down and talked for four rounds; but regarding the question that ‘are there constant messages and contacts between us and the Saudi government? Yes! This has happened,” Khatibzadeh told the Mehr news agency.

On a possible reopening of the embassies of the two countries, the spokesman said: “We are still some distance away from reopening of the embassies in Tehran and Riyadh.”

“But if we can start this process, I must say that it can start soon,” the diplomat stated.

Talking on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome on Saturday, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud said: “Talks with Iran are friendly but there is no much progress.”

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh strongly rejected the astonishing new allegations made by the Republic of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev against the Islamic Republic of Iran at the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, calling them fabricated, the Iranian foreign ministry said.

Khatibzadeh said such media accusations are only in the interests of the Zionist regime to affect the brotherly relations between the two nations of Iran and Azerbaijan.

Emphasizing the leading role of Iran in the fight against drug trafficking, Khatibzadeh stressed that thousands of martyrs and wounded Iranians during the past four decades in the fight against this ominous phenomenon is just a part of the committed and continuous efforts of the Islamic Republic on this path which have been approved by relevant international institutions over and over again.

While emphasizing the strong brotherly relations between the two nations, Khatibzadeh said, unfortunately, it seems that despite the private and positive messages received from Baku in different calls, there is an intention on the part of Baku to make baseless media statements, which, of course, will be answered in due manner.

The Azeri president has accused Iran of aiding Armenia in drug trafficking. In addition, he also went so far as to accuse Iran of playing a role on destroying Shusha city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region when it was under Armenia occupation.

“In the city of Shusha, Armenia has destroyed 16 out of 17 mosques that existed there before the occupation. One mosque was left to demonstrate ‘tolerance’, and there was an attempt to portray it as Persian with complicity from so-called specialists from Iran,” Aliyev claimed.

He added, “Houses and public buildings were taken down brick by brick and sold to Armenia and Iran…. Also, immense damages have been caused to the nature. About 60,000 hectares of forests have been cut down, sawn and sold to Armenia and Iran.”

Iran has strongly rejected the Azerbaijani allegations that it sided with Armenia during the wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran says it supported Baku in its efforts to liberate its occupied territories.

The remarks came against a backdrop of heightened tensions between Tehran and Baku. The episode began in early August when social media users in Iran reported mistreatment of Iranian truck drivers by Azerbaijani forces along the Goris-Kapan Highway which links Iran to Armenia through the newly-liberated Karabakh region. The Iranian trucks were carrying Armenia-bound goods from Iran but due to the change in Karabakh’s borders during a 2020 war had to pass through a road curve into Azerbaijan’s territory.

Azerbaijan also reportedly imposed a staggering tax on Iranian commercial trucks which drew criticism from Iranian merchants.

“Beware of the devil’s costly traps”

Since then, tensions have been on the rise between the two neighbors. On Friday, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani warned about the “costly traps” that could be set for Baku.

“Ignoring the neighborhood principles & making false statements can’t be a sign of a tact. Accusation against a country that the world recognizes as a hero in the fight against drugs has no effect other than invalidating the speaker’s words. Beware of the devil’s costly traps,” Shamkhani said on Twitter.

Last week, the foreign ministers of Iran and Azerbaijan held a telephone conversation to defuse tensions. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov have discussed the latest developments in bilateral relations in a telephone conversation.

While emphasizing the need for mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, Abdollahian added that Tehran and Baku have a long-standing relationship with each other.

He stressed that the two countries must prevent misunderstandings in their relations and it is worthwhile to continue their ties in the right and growing direction quickly.

Abdollahian also said Tehran expects that the problem of transit traffic of Iranian trucks in the Azerbaijan Republic will be solved, the Iranian foreign ministry said.

The foreign minister spoke of the depth of relations between the two nations. He said Tehran and Baku have enemies and the two sides should not give the enemies the opportunity to disrupt relations between the two countries and concerns should be allayed through dialogue and cooperation.

The Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov also called relations with Iran friendly and added that ties with friendly countries are a priority for the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He emphasized the need to resolve the differences through dialogue and in a calm and sincere atmosphere. Jeyhun Bayramov suggested that the two countries’ customs officials hold talks to solve the problem of the transit of Iranian goods.

He stressed the pursuit of the release of two Iranian truck drivers detained in the Azerbaijan Republic.

The foreign ministers of the two countries invited each other to visit Tehran and Baku.

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Khatibzadeh added that the Iranian and Azeri foreign ministers also engaged in serious and meticulous discussions over issues of mutual concerns on the sidelines of the recent UN General Assembly in New York.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, the chief diplomats agreed to continue the talks.

Khatibzadeh reiterated that Iran has always opposed any occupation of territory and stressed the need for respecting the territorial integrity of countries and internationally recognized borders. He said good neighborliness is a key matter and all neighbors are expected to observe it.

He added that the recent Iran’s military drills along the northwestern border was a sovereign matter and was aimed at protecting regional security. He, however, said that Iran will not tolerate the Israeli regime’s presence near its borders even if it is ceremonial and the Islamic Republic will do anything that it takes to protect its national security.

“Iranians, Azeris have most affinities” 

Speaking in an interview with Tasnim on Tuesday, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament, said the Iranian and Azeri people have the most religious, cultural, and ethnic affinities.
Meshkini also said that Iran believes that no behavior should result in tensions between the two neighbors, warning any tension “will only benefit foreigners, especially the Zionist regime.”

In recent weeks, the Azeri police and customs officials have begun imposing a “road tax” on Iranian trucks shipping fuel and other goods to neighboring Armenia, causing a strained atmosphere in the relations between Tehran and Baku.

Aliyev has claimed that Iran had ignored Azerbaijan’s calls for many years to stop transporting goods to Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave that’s internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory. He said no Iranian truck has entered Nagorno-Karabakh since Azerbaijan started imposing taxes.

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“Only Iran speaks for Iran. Our mandate is to engage in only RESULTS-oriented dialogue,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a tweet on Friday.

He rejected talks for sake of talks and “the fallacy that economic terrorism works.”

It is “high time for the party that unilaterally left JCPOA to wake up to new reality,” Khatibzadeh said, referring to the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Khatibzadeh’s tweet came after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Tehran is ready to resume talks on the JCPOA revival “very soon” but the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is sending a “negative sign” by keeping illegal sanctions on Tehran.

“Contradictory messages”

Abdollahian said on Friday that Biden is adding to “the thick file of the Trump sanctions against Iran.’’

In interviews with journalists during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, Abdollahian said that Iran would return “very soon” to negotiations in Vienna. But Tehran, he said, had received “contradictory messages” from Washington about restoring the agreement jettisoned by Donald Trump more than three years ago.

In the talks in Vienna the Biden administration has been seeking a “longer and stronger” accord than the original JCPOA and that was the chief reason that why the sides failed to revive the accord before President Rouhani’s presidency comes to an end.

“We will not have a so-called ‘longer and stronger’ deal,” Abdollahian told The New York Times in an interview on Thursday night at his hotel opposite the United Nations headquarters. The 2015 accord “has a lot of harsh critics in Iran,” he said, “but we accepted it.”

The new foreign minister said the previous Iranian government had spent far too much energy negotiating lengthy, detailed agreements with the United States.

“The standard for us,” said Abdollahian, “will be one to watch the action of U.S. officials and judge based on actions taken by President Biden,” rather than on Biden’s “paradoxical statements.”

He suggested that the Iran deal went off the rails long before Trump took office. He said that President Barack Obama had worked, even after the accord was reached, to keep Iran from reaping the benefits of sanctions removal.

“It’s important to note that the violations began under Obama, and then President Trump,” he said, saying that banks and energy companies pulled back from signing deals even when the agreement was in place.

The New York Times said Abdollahian was right. It said many companies feared the rules would change again after the 2016 presidential election. That fear proved warranted, as Trump rescinded the deal and imposed new sanctions.

The same could happen again, Abdollahian said, so Iran is learning how to live in a world of sanctions. “We will not tie the fate of our nation to the JCPOA,” he said.
“We will return to the negotiations and will do so very quickly,” he told The Times. “But if our counterparts don’t change their behavior we may not reach the required result.”

In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, the top Iranian diplomat also said Biden needed to back up his talk of diplomacy with concrete actions to show Iran that Washington is serious about restoring the nuclear deal.

Addressing the annual UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden claimed his willingness to rejoin the JCPOA and resolve the issue with Iran over its nuclear program.

The U.S. president said Washington was “working” with China, France, Russia, Britain and Germany to “engage Iran diplomatically and to seek a return to” the JCPOA.

“We’re prepared to return to full compliance if Iran does the same,” he said, according to Press TV.

However, Farid Zakaria, a Washington Post columnist, has recently expressed surprise at Biden normalizing Trump’s foreign policy in many areas, including the JCPOA.

“After almost eight months of watching policies, rhetoric and crises, many foreign observers have been surprised — even shocked — to discover that, in area after area, Biden’s foreign policy is a faithful continuation of Donald Trump’s and a repudiation of Barack Obama’s,” Zakaria wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Post.

Zakaria was understandably surprised at the continuation of Trump’s policies by Biden. “Another striking example of Biden’s surprisingly Trumpian foreign policy is the Iran deal, one of the landmark accomplishments of the Obama administration. Throughout his election campaign, Biden argued that Trump’s withdrawal from that agreement had been a cardinal error and that, as president, he would rejoin it as long as Iran would also move into compliance. His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, described Trump’s reimposing of secondary sanctions against Tehran despite opposition from U.S. allies as ‘predatory unilateralism,’” he noted, adding, “But since he took office, Biden has failed to return to the deal and has even extended some sanctions. Having long argued against trying to renegotiate the deal, Biden officials now want to ‘lengthen and strengthen’ it. So far, this Trump-Biden strategy has not worked.”

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“The next meeting of the Board of Governors is a regular one. I have said before, and I emphasize now, that neither side should make a miscalculation, not go in a direction that affects the negotiations in Vienna,” Khatibzadeh said when asked about a possible visit by Rafael Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, to Iran on the eve of the board meeting.

Speaking to reporters in his regular news briefing, he said, “The political use of the Agency’s technical platform will lead to a different response from Iran.”

On the type of interaction between Iran and the IAEA, Khatibzadeh said, “Relations between Iran and the Agency are technical and respectful. There is a deep and right understanding between the two sides and we hope that the others will not interfere in this understanding.”

The Foreign Ministry spokesman also said the Vienna talks are completely technical and are intended to ensure a full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by the United States and the remaining parties.

The nuclear talks to revive the JCPOA started in April. Six rounds of talks were held until June. The talks are expected to be resumed now that a new administration in Iran has taken the helm.

Khatibzadeh added the nuclear talks in Vienna are not to reach a new text or accepting new commitments by Iran.

Addressing the Washington officials, the diplomat said: “The American officials have been imposing sanctions and economic terrorism against the Iranian people for many years, and they should know that Iran will not wait forever for the United States to put pressure on the Iranian people with the illegal leverage of sanctions.”

Khatibzadeh added Iran will not wait forever for the Americans to fulfill their commitments. “This is a limited window for Washington, and we hope that U.S. officials will be in Vienna with a clear agenda to implement their commitments and lift sanctions.”

He was also asked to comment on economic diplomacy, saying a national will was needed to pursue economic diplomacy as one of the main cores of Iran’s foreign policy priorities.

All the problems in this field had been identified and examined by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said.

In line with activating economic diplomacy the Foreign Ministry plans a hold a meeting of Iranian ambassadors in neighboring countries soon, the spokesman said.

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He added that what the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said about Afghanistan has been Iran’s firm policy on the country over the past 40 years.

“We have always stood by the people of Afghanistan and our priority has been to ensure peace, stability and progress in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is our dear neighbor. It is in our realm of civilization, and a statement I read at the ministry last week emphasized that the lives, honor, and properties of the Afghan people must be respected by all groups in the country. What we think will bring peace and stability to Afghanistan is the formation of an inclusive government in this country that reflects the ethnic and demographic composition of Afghanistan,” he elaborated.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on August 29 that the Islamic Republic backs the people of Afghanistan regardless of who is in power.

Ayatollah Khamenei wished peace and prosperity for the Afghan nation, saying, “May God bring the best situation for the nation of Afghanistan.”

The Leader described Afghanistan as a brotherly country which shares many affinities with the Iranian nation.

“Afghanistan is our brother country, with the same language, religion, and culture,” the Leader noted.

Khatibzadeh added, “In this regard, the responsibility of the future government of Afghanistan will help fulfill their definite obligations, and we are waiting to see the formation of an inclusive government and the commitment of that government to fulfill its responsibilities, and based on that, Iran and the international community will make their decisions.”

The spokesman said that what Iran seeks is that Afghans decide for their future.

“What is clear from the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which I have read before, is that we seek the people of Afghanistan to decide their own destiny, and no force outside Afghanistan can decide for the people of Afghanistan and their future. Afghanistan should be allowed to create an inclusive government in the country by facilitating inter-Afghan dialogue, not a minority government against the majority or a government with only one group, but a government that reflects the demographic and ethnic composition of Afghanistan,” he elaborated.

Khatibzadeh said that the Taliban, as a group, is part of Afghanistan and part of the future of the country.

“We have announced ourselves to hold the second round of inter-Afghan talks in Tehran. Of course, this depends on the fact that all groups can participate in it,” he added.

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In his weekly press briefing on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh spent much of his time speaking about developments in Afghanistan. He took some difficult questions on the future of Iran’s dealings with the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is closely following the latest developments in Afghanistan,” Khatibzadeh said.

He was keen to underline the need for dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts. “It [Iran] is in constant contact and dialogue with all parties and groups in Afghanistan,” the spokesman added.

Khatibzadeh did not name any of these parties or groups. And this was a usual diplomatic practice. In times of mayhem, one should always be careful not to take sides until the dust settles.

The Taliban is no friend of Iran; it is widely seen as a culprit in shedding the blood of Iranian diplomats in Mazar-i-Sharif, though Iranian officialdom has yet to blame it for the massacre. This may explain why Iranian public opinion holds a gloomy view of the militant group. In fact, many social media users in Iran have largely sympathized with Ahmad Massoud of the Panjshir Valley which became the last beacon of hope for large swaths of the Afghan population to establish a political order with democratic trappings.
During his Monday presser, Khatibzadeh had to answer a question on Massoud. Despite knowing the public mood, the spokesman sought to keep a safe distance from Massoud and the Taliban alike.

When asked whether Iran was in contact with Massoud, Khatibzadeh said Iran is in contact with all parties and groups of Afghanistan. This answer is part of a broader strategy to establish relations with all stakeholders in Afghanistan with the aim of encouraging them to form an all-inclusive government that would ensure and protect the rights of all of Afghanistan’s ethnoreligious groups.

Khatibzadeh made it clear that Iran wants to see the formation of an all-inclusive government in Kabul, one that excludes no one and put an end to the internecine war.

Responding to a question on whether Iran would recognize the Taliban’s rule, he said, “We are basically not at that stage right now. We are now at a stage where we must strive to form an all-inclusive government in Afghanistan that reflects all the realities of Afghanistan and the ethnic and popular composition of Afghanistan from different perspectives.”

Khatibzadeh implied that the formation of such a government would pave the way for Iran to more positively deal with the Taliban. “If the future all-inclusive government of Afghanistan reflects these issues, it can facilitate this path. It is too early for us to decide now on the future government of Afghanistan. Our priority now is to preserve the lives, property, and honor of the Afghan people and to engage in comprehensive dialogue between the various Afghan groups and the formation of an all-inclusive government in this country.”

To this end, Iran will host Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi on Thursday. Khatibzadeh said this visit will focus on developments in bilateral relations and Afghanistan.

Like Iran, Pakistan has also expressed interest in the formation of an all-inclusive government in Kabul in the wake of the Taliban takeover. “We believe an inclusive political settlement is best way forward,” Qureshi said of Afghanistan on Twitter.

Iran and Pakistan have a shared interest in bringing peace to Afghanistan. Both are neighbors of Afghanistan and any insecurity there would have a direct impact on them. Iran and Pakistan both host a great number of Afghan refugees and they can’t endure another refugee surge.

Preventing another wave of refugees along with other objectives such as preventing extremism and ensuring the rights of Afghan ethnoreligious rights in the new order is the underlying reason for Iran to urge dialogue and tolerance in Kabul.

“We welcome the peaceful transition of power in Afghanistan to an all-inclusive government and hope that the Coordination Council formed in this country will be able to move towards peace in this neighboring country,” Khatibzadeh said.

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