Iran eager to join CPEC

Iran eager to join CPEC

Dr. Jassim Taqui

Iran is keen to strengthen relations with Pakistan in all fields including trade, culture, economic cooperation and regional cooperation. Iran is the first country to recognize Pakistan and to establish diplomatic relations with it. The visit of the President Hassan Rouhani to Islamabad and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Tehran speak volume of the excellent relations between the two countries. During my meeting with Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, I discussed with him the outcome of my latest visits to Syria, Iraq, and France whereby we strongly condemned ISIS terrorism.  Iran has noticed similar concern in Germany and the United States. Iran is the victim of terrorism and has lost over 17000 fighting this menace. We are proud of deploying military advisors in Iraq and Syria that helped them in their fight against ISIS. Iran is also keen to combat the drug mafia, which is smuggling heroin to the European Union via Iran. The Iranian anti-narcotics force valiantly fought the heroin mafia and lost over 4000 of valiant soldiers who foiled the drug mafia schemes of smuggling heroin to Iran. Tehran does not believe that the 39-nation Islamic Military  Army is against Iran. However, bombing civilians is at variance with UN Charter. Iran supports CPEC and is willing to implement the IP gas pipelines. Iran is also ready to mediate between both Pakistan and India to peacefully resolve their differences.

The above are the highlight of Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security Alaeddin Boroujerdi in an Oxbridge Lecture with Dr. Irshad Ullah-Khan in the Chair.

In the second lecture, the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mahdi Honardoost stated that Iran was eager to join CPEC; terming it a peaceful project for regional cooperation that can activate bilateral and regional cooperation. He dismissed the notion that the Iranian Chabahar seaport is competing with; stating that both seaports complement each other. He said that Iran was ready to “ share its best railways and road networks with regional countries to promote trade.”

Speaking of terrorism, Honardoost stated that Iran was the victim of terrorism.

Commenting on the nuclear agreement with P5+1, he stated the  UN and the European Union implemented their commitments on lifting sanctions except for the United States, which continues to be hostile to Iran.

In his concluding remarks, Dr. Irshad Ullah-Khan warned that if India attempted to deprive Pakistan of its share of water, there would be a devastating nuclear war.

He criticized the United States for siding with India against Pakistan- its erstwhile Cold War ally-  and called for a formation of an axis comprising of Pakistan, China, Iran, and Russia. He said the axis should be willing to accept Saudi Arabia if it desired to join it. By far, this is the most powerful statement I have ever witnessed.