TEHRAN - Iran’s ambassador to Britain said on Tuesday that Iran is ready to resume relations with Saudi Arabia if the kingdom acknowledges Iran’s prominent role in the Middle East region.

Hamid Baeedinejad said Saudi Arabia is working hard to downplay Iran’s key role in the region and “incites the other regional countries to follow its path”.

However, he said, Tehran has no fear if its influence is not acknowledged by other countries.

Speaking in a meeting of international diplomatic community in London, the ambassador predicted that Saudi Arabia’s efforts to spread enmity towards Iran will not last long.

The diplomat said Iran has been seeking a policy of friendship for centuries and history bears witness to this fact. “Iran has not attacked on any country during the past 300 years and has embarked on cooperating with other countries.” 

Baeedinejad said the Iraqi invasion of Iran in the 1980s (the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War) inflicted hundreds of billions of dollars in damages on the Iranian economy, and about 15 years after Iran came under sanctions for its nuclear program. 

“We were involved in a war for eight years which strongly harmed our economy. Unfortunately, tension with Iran continued in another form in spite of our efforts to distance from the language of war.”

He cited Iran’s efforts in concluding a nuclear agreement with the West as an example of the country’s moves to ease tensions.

However Saudi Arabia made any efforts to obstruct the nuclear deal, lamented Baeedinejad who was a nuclear negotiator with great powers.

After about two years of intensive negotiations Iran and the 5+1 group - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany – succeeded to end the protracted dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. During the negotiations Saudi Arabia along with the Zionist Israeli regime and hardliners in the U.S. made unsuccessful efforts to abort the nuclear deal. 

NA/PA