TEHRAN – Iran’s Ambassador to Vienna and Slovakia, Abbas Bagherpour Ardekani, has once again reiterated Iran’s position on the Ukraine war, saying that Tehran has not provided Moscow with weapons for use in Ukraine. 

“We are not a party to the Ukraine conflict, and we are not providing arms to the parties. Like many other countries, we have cooperation with Russia in various fields and away from the Ukraine situation. This is neither new nor hidden. Nevertheless, we have not provided the Russians with weapons or drones to be used in the Ukraine war,” Ardekani said in an interview with Pravda Slovak newspaper.

He added, “In the phone call last week between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran and his Ukrainian counterpart we again presented our proposal to hold a technical meeting between the Iranian and Ukrainian experts to look into the alleged documents, and we are still working on it to hold this meeting. This proposal has already been on agenda and even at one point an agreement was made between Iran and Ukraine to hold this technical meeting in Poland and the Iranian technical team went there. But, at the last minute, the Ukrainian side did not show up due to foreign pressure.”

The Iranian ambassador once again reiterated Iran’s position on the war in Ukraine, saying that Iran has adopted a principled stance toward the war. 

“We have stated our clear and principled positions many times at different levels. We are against any war and we support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of countries. We are in favor of an immediate end to the war and we are ready to help this happen. This is our clear position. War does not benefit anyone. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs has had several phone calls with both the Foreign Minister of Ukraine and the Foreign Minister of Russia. Even at one point, the foreign minister of Ukraine asked Iran to mediate to reduce the tension, and we took some measures,” Ardekani said. 

The Iranian ambassador also commented on the situation around the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“In 2018 and in clear breach of UN Security Council resolution, the United States withdrew from the JCPOA and reimposed its inhumane sanctions. The illegal and inhuman sanctions of the United States have targeted the ordinary people of Iran. Patients, especially those suffering from rare diseases or children with butterfly disease, suffer a lot and some of them die due to the lack of access to medical goods, medicines and even dressings. That is why US sanctions are indeed crimes against humanity. It is very unfortunate that Europe, by accompanying US inhumane sanctions, has become complicit in these crimes. Our people will never forget these crimes,” he said. 

Ardekani also touched on the relations between Iran and Slovakia, saying, “Iran and Slovakia have good capacities for cooperation based on mutual benefit. The two countries have always declared their readiness to expand this commercial cooperation. To that end, the joint economic commission of the two countries was held in Tehran in May 2022 with a wide and comprehensive agenda as a result of which very good agreements were reached,” he noted. 

The Iranian ambassador also dismissed the allegations that Iran is seeking a nuclear bomb, saying that “we believe that the era of the atomic bomb is over, and no one will be looking for it anymore; unless as a strategic mistake or miscalculation. The Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek nuclear weapons and this decision is based on both our defense doctrine and the religious teachings well elaborated in the fatwa/religious decree of our Supreme Leader. If the West and Europe have genuine concerns about non-proliferation, we recommend them to seriously consider the real and existing threat posed by the mass killing arsenals of the Israeli regime and its more than 250 nuclear bombs, while not joining to any of the disarmament and arms control treaties including NPT.”

Ardekani also answered a question on the current unrest in Iran, saying that foreign countries are seeking to exploit the unrest. 

“The death of Mrs. Mahsa Amini was painful for all Iranians. Our President had a telephone call with her family, expressing sympathy with them and gave the necessary orders to the relevant authorities to deal with this issue urgently. The matter has also been followed up by the judiciary and the reports of relevant institutions and commissions, including the final report of the Forensic medicine have been published,” he said, adding, “In a situation where people's feelings were naturally boiling, some foreign countries that have a history of hostility with us, considered it as an opportunity to advance their interventionist programs by abusing civil and legitimate protests. To that end, they did not even hesitate to support the rioters who caused considerable damage to public property.”

He noted, “Despite all the challenges, we strive to develop and improve the conditions for our people and we will continue to promote human rights. No country in the world is perfect in the field of human rights. Our record and human rights achievements are higher and very better than many Western allies in our region. This is why we believe that the West is misusing human rights to advance its political interests and objectives.”