Territorial Integrity of Regional States Iran’s Red Line: Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari expressed the country’s fierce opposition to disintegration of any country in the region.
“One of our red lines is violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the regional countries,” Jaberi Ansari told Tasnim in an exclusive interview.
He said Iran formulates plans and takes actions according to the firm belief that none of the regional countries should disintegrate and be divided into new territories.
Despite occasional wrong tactical moves by certain countries in the region, there is a consensus among the vast majority of the regional states that on the strategic scale, disintegration will be an endless game, the diplomat explained.
He then referred to Israel as a player imposed on the region, and one that is not a natural component of West Asia, and whose policy since the beginning of its creation has been dissolution of the region, provoking regional disputes and escalation of inter-regional conflicts.
The spokesman then expressed the hope that two factors would ensure that the region will not face disintegration: the continuing process of national consensus in the countries and the common understanding among regional powers about the strategic threat of disintegration.
His comments came against the backdrop of conflicts in a number of regional countries, including Syria and Iraq.
Since June 10, 2014, Iraq has witnessed a fresh wave of violence after militants from the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group took control of swathes of the Arab country.
Syria has also been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with Takfiri terrorists from various groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.
Last year, a controversial US Congress bill was drafted, proposing the division of Iraq into three states and allows the Kurdish forces and the Sunni tribesmen to be armed directly without Baghdad’s approval.
The draft of the US annual defense bill, which was released on April 27, 2015 by the House Armed Services Committee, urged the US government to recognize separate Kurdish and Sunni states and provide them with at least 25 percent of the USD 715-million aid planned to be given to the Iraqi government to help it fight the ISIL terrorist group.
The draft bill also said the figure could even amount to 60 percent of the money, about USD 429 million.