Belgrade ready to promote ties with Tehran in all areas
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Belgrade is ready to promote ties with Tehran in all areas, underlining that Serbia has no limits in this regard.
He made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Serbia’s capital on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s official website reported.
Both officials stressed on expansion of bilateral relations in political, economic and cultural fields.
They also discussed cooperation in international organizations and regional issues.
Earlier on the day, Zarif and his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic discussed ways to promote relations in different sectors and leading regional and international developments.
“We intend to expand relations between the two countries in all political, economic, cultural and parliamentary fields,” Zarif said in a meeting with Dacic, Press TV reported.
He welcomed a decision passed by the Serbian government in August to lift visa requirements for Iranian nationals and noted that the possible establishment of a direct flight between the two countries would lead to a considerable increase in trade ties.
Zarif added that Tehran and Belgrade can also boost cooperation in the sectors of oil, gas, petrochemistry, mines, communications and agriculture.
The top Iranian diplomat said he carries President Hassan Rouhani’s official invitation for his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic to pay a visit to Tehran.
The Serbian foreign minister expressed his country’s keenness to strengthen all-out relations with Iran, particularly in trade and economic fields.
Zarif and Dacic also exchanged views about avenues for increasing cooperation in defense, science and technology as well as culture arenas.
Heading a politico-economic delegation, Zarif arrived in Belgrade earlier in the day at the first step of a four-nation tour of Eastern Europe.
During his two-day visit, the top Iranian diplomat plans to hold talks with senior Serbian officials. He is also scheduled to take part in a meeting between the Iranian and Serbian entrepreneurs.
At the end of his stay in Belgrade, Zarif would also travel to Bulgaria, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iran warned on Monday the United States will pay the price for its plan to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Al-quds.
President Donald Trump formally recognized Alquds as Israel’s capital on December 6 and announced plans to move the US Embassy to the occupied holy city.
“This is one of the United States’ very wrong policies, for which it will pay the price in the future,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told reporters during a weekly news briefing in Tehran, Press TV reported.
“With the mindlessness which we see in American decisions, there is need for serious action in the Islamic world,” the official added.
Qassemi also said a British resolution against Iran over the Yemen war at the United Nations Security Council would be helping “invaders and aggravate the invasion.”
“We do not send arms to Yemen. Such blame games are being waged by those who are fanning [the flames of] war and bloodshed in Yemen,” he said.
The spokesman further said, “What is happening in Yemen is the result of arms exports by the United Kingdom and the United States to Saudi Arabia.”
Iran, he said, was observing “dishonest behavior” on the part of the British government, which is trying to use the international mechanism to support the invader despite its claims of seeking to end the Saudi war.
London and Washington have been arming Saudi Arabia since 2015 when the kingdom and its allies invaded Yemen to restore its Riyadh-allied government. Around 13,600 people have died since the invasion began.
Qassemi also hoped that calm would return to the Syrian capital and its Eastern Ghouta suburbs which are the scene of fierce government clashes with foreign-backed terrorists.
Militants have been using the countryside as a base for mortar attacks on the capital. The Syrian military is currently in the midst of an operation to drive the terrorists out of the area.
On Saturday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted in favor of a resolution demanding a 30-day truce in Syria “without delay” to allow aid access and medical evacuations.
Qassemi said the Islamic Republic wants a ceasefire across Syria so that humanitarian aid could reach civilians.
The spokesman also commented on Turkey’s ongoing military operation in Syria’s Afrin region, saying Iranian, Turkish, and Russian foreign ministers and presidents would be meeting in May to discuss the situation in the Arab country.
“These negotiations are instrumental in resolving differences, and will contribute to efforts aimed at restoring calm and fighting terrorism in Syria,” he said.
Tehran and Ankara, Qassemi said, have shared common views on Syria at times and differed at others. “What is important is that we are cooperating” towards a resolution of the conflict in the Arab country, he added.