TEHRAN – Iranian President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi received Wednesday a phone call from Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo in which the two leaders discussed prospects for strengthening ties between Iran and Europe. 

In this call, President Raisi emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran is willing to maintain and improve good, constructive relations with the world, including Europe, and added, "If a government, under the influence of false and misleading information from terrorist and mercenary movements, chooses the path of confrontation, it will suffer losses".

He described the result of false information as wrong calculations, and expressing his concern about the support of some European countries for anti-Islamic and terrorist movements, emphasizing, "The Islamic Republic of Iran is willing to solve issues with a cooperative approach, of course, provided that the other side also adopts such an approach".

The head of the Supreme National Security Council also emphasized, "The territory of European countries should not be the source of conspiracy and threats against the interests of the Iranian nation".

In this telephone conversation, the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, emphasized the importance of developing relations and cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the 130-year-old Tehran-Brussels diplomatic relations and said, "Belgium always takes the path of dialogue to strengthen its relations with Iran and believes that issues should be pursued with the approach of understanding and cooperation".

In this telephone conversation, the two sides agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

The phone conversation comes days after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian met with his Belgian counterpart in Geneva. The two top diplomats discussed bilateral political issues as well as some international developments and consular matters.

Amirabdollahian pointed to the 130 years of historical ties between Iran and Belgium and concurred with the Belgian foreign minister that issues between the two sides must be resolved through dialogue and cooperation.
He also spoke about the wrong assessment of some European sides regarding the recent riots in Iran, stressing that relations and bilateral issues should not be affected by such miscalculations.

Regarding consular issues, the top Iranian diplomat stressed that within the framework of the previous agreement, Iran is ready to resolve the issue of prisoners of the two countries.

Amir Abdollahian then explained the Islamic Republic of Iran’s principled policy and views about the Ukraine issue to his Belgian counterpart.