TEHRAN - Iran’s Ambassador to Japan, Morteza Rahmani-Movahed, has said that relations between Iran and Japan are growing.

“Mr. Abe [the outgoing Japanese prime minister] has made serious efforts to expand Japan’s ties with Iran. We have no worry for change of Japan’s prime minister, because relations between Tehran and Tokyo are moving on the path of progress,” Rahmani-Movahed said during a press conference on Saturday.

Abe announced in August that he will resign for health issues. He suffers from colitis, a non-curable inflammatory bowel disease, which forced him to resign during his first stint as the country's leader from 2006 to 2007. He became Prime Minister again in 2012.

Abe Shinzo is Japan's longest-serving head of government in terms of consecutive days in office.

Rahmani-Movahed pointed to a visit by Abe to Iran in June 2019, calling the visit a successful effort in line with expanding relations.

Abe visited Tehran in June 2019 to deescalate tension between Iran and the U.S. which spiked after Donald Trump withdrew his country from the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal and slapped the harshest ever sanctions on Tehran. He met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.

‘Iran not concerned about U.S. presidential elections’

Rahmani-Movahed also said that Iran is not concerned about the United States’ presidential elections in November and it does not matter whether a Republican or a Democrat will take the presidency.

“As long as the United States continues hostile policies against the Islamic Republic, it makes no difference if the Republicans or Democrats rule over the United States,” he stated.

‘Iran hopes UAE would return from wrong path’

The Iranian diplomat also expressed hope that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would return from the wrong path and revise its policy in normalizing ties with the Zionist regime of Israel.

The UAE and Israel reached an agreement in August to normalize ties.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling the action a “strategic stupidity”.

According to Press TV, Palestinian factions unanimously slammed the development with the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement calling it “a reward for the Israeli occupation and crimes,” and the West Bank-headquartered Palestinian Authority (PA) denouncing it as an act of “aggression” against the Palestinian people and a “betrayal” of their cause.

NA/PA