Iran uses President’s visit to speak to the world on crisis with Trump
Dr Mohamed Shariff Anees, a senior lecturer on political science, at he University of Sri Lnaka has served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Iran for the past seven months. The twice put off state visit of President Maithripala Sirisena finally took place successfully last week, he says. Here is a brief Q & A:
THE OUTCOME OF THE VISIT: It opened a new chapter in the political, diplomatic, economic and cultural histories of both countries. President Sirisena met with Iran’s President Dr Hassen Rouhani and the Supreme/ Spiritual Leader of Iran Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Both leaders agreed that the geographical and strategic locations of their countries are very important in the present world politics and international trade. It was stated by the Iranian side that the current level of bilateral trade ties is “much lower” than the potential capacities. It was agreed to develop the relationship at least up to the level of what prevailed in 2011.
Discussions took place in the fields such as bilateral trade, foreign direct investment, tourism, scientific-technology, agricultural industry and railway.
WORLD ATTENTION TO THE VISIT: This was the first State Visit of a Head of State after Donald Trump, the US president, withdrew from the nuclear deal or “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Therefore, the entire world not only was closely watching this visit but also was alert on the opinions expressed by both leaders. Some political analysts believe that Iran benefited immensely during this visit as the Political as well as the Supreme leaders of the country utilized this opportunity to express their views on the present political dilemma of the world. Both of them used this visit as a political platform for conveying their message to the rest of the world about their stance on the current situation. For instance, the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that “Asian countries must further co-operate and work with each other, because such cooperation will make them strong”.
At the same time, what President Dr. Hassan Rouhani conveyed in this regard is very important ;“The basis of foreign policy is built on morality, trust and attention to international regulations, and we are very pleased that Iran has been abiding by its obligations under any agreement it has signed and at the same time, we are so sorry that the US as one of the parties of this accord, announced its withdrawal from the agreement and the US withdrawal is “a violation of morals/ethics, politics, the proper diplomatic path and international regulations”. Therefore it seems that Iran has used this state visit as a forum where it could clearly express its stand over the latest nuclear issue.
However, President Sirisena avoided making any serious comments about the nuclear issue and he focused more on further developing and promoting bilateral relations between the two countries. He made clear that Sri Lanka was nonaligned and maintained good relations with all countries.