TEHRAN – In an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times newspaper, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to Iran His Excellency Rolliansyah Soemirat discussed the 75th anniversary of bilateral relations, calling for deeper cooperation while condemning the June attack on Iran as a breach of international law.

Below is the full transcript of the interview:

How do you assess current Iran–Indonesia relations?

I need to start by emphasizing that this particular year is very important for our two countries, since this year marks the 75th diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Iran.

So, it is our hope that our collaborations and cooperations between Iran can go beyond these 75 years and go all the way into the future.

And again, we don't have any specific problem. We are practically almost working together—so many similarities, points of view, approaches.

And also, we have quite a vast and intensive cooperation in various aspects. But of course, there is still so much room for improvement. But again, we are going to strengthen our collaboration and cooperation.

The most important part that we need to always remember is that we manage up to now to base our cooperation on mutual respect for each other.

And for me, one of the signs of the maturity of the relations is also the capability to listen to each other, the capability to try to understand each other.

And also, even maybe sometimes, we have to agree to disagree in some aspects.

Because of course, we are living based on our two different communities, where the countries also have different priorities for the benefit of their people.

So sometimes, we might have some slightly different approaches in addressing some issues or challenges. But again, it doesn't mean that we have to run away from our differences.

But there should always be genuine intention to try to understand, and if possible, to overcome the differences in the most collegial way.

How does Indonesia view Iran's role in regional stability?

I believe it is not excessive to mention that Iran has a big role and influence, not only in the region but also in the global constellations.

And of course, located in one of the most dynamic regions of the world makes the role of Iran even more important.

And in this regard, since we know that the situations in the region will give impact to other parts of the world, it is Indonesia's belief that Iran can always positively contribute to the atmosphere, not only in the region but also in the global world, together working with the countries in the region.

And of course, as I mentioned earlier, everything should be based on the genuine intention to mutually respect each other among countries in the region.

Late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Indonesia in 2023. Are there more such visits planned for the future?

I believe that the government of Iran and Indonesia is always in good communication at all levels and always considering the possibility of having exchange visits among high-level dignitaries from the government representatives.

And actually, this is one of my tasks from my president as Ambassador of Indonesia to Iran now, to explore the possibility of additional visits between the high-level officials from Iran and Indonesia.

That will actually mark the strong cooperation between the two countries.

And I believe there is an invitation from President Pezeshkian to our president, President Prabowo Subianto, to visit Iran.

And actually, only a couple of days ago, the letter from our president had already been sent to the President of Iran’s office, indicating that if the time is correct, there is a genuine intention for our president to visit Iran.

And in the near future, actually, we also, from the Foreign Ministry of Indonesia, are now trying to finalize the possibility of having bilateral meetings with the Foreign Minister of Iran. Hopefully, it can be materialized in the near future.

But again, aside from these specific bilateral meetings, the two foreign ministers already met each other on various occasions, maybe on the sidelines of meetings like the BRICS meeting or the United Nations meeting. They met each other. But we are now trying to secure the time slot for proper bilateral meetings between our two foreign ministers.

Indonesia was among the countries that condemned the recent attack by Israel and the U.S. on Iran. Could you elaborate further on the Indonesian government's policy and your people's perspective on this matter?

At that time, we directly condemned the attack from the countries attacking Iran in June 2025, based on the understanding that this is practically a clear and gross violation of the United Nations Charter.

For Indonesia, just like any other country, we believe in international law, and international law should be respected and should be followed by everybody without any exceptions. There should be no cherry-picking. There should be no one above the law.

And that's why even our president, two months ago in September 2025, during the UN General Assembly session in New York, clearly mentioned that Indonesia rejects any approach from any country that uses the wrong approach, as if the strong can do what they can and the weak will suffer what they must. This is the wrong approach, because for Indonesia, all countries should live side by side with a certain equality before international law.

And this is something that we always believe as our foreign policy principle.

At the same time, we also expect that all affected countries, especially in the region, can also try to exercise maximum restraint—not only countries in the region, but also countries from outside the region that practically have connections with the situation in the region should always exercise maximum restraint and try as much as possible to take measures that avoid any further escalations.

Because only with a certain degree of sensible and logical restraint and refrain will we avoid any further escalation or even open conflict.

What is the volume of economic and trade exchanges between the two countries, and what are the primary areas they focus on? In your opinion, what other potential areas exist for growing and increasing these exchanges?

This is the thing that I really need to check the data for, the current data that we have. When it comes to trade cooperation, for example, I think the data shows us that a couple of years ago, around the 2023 period, the total trade cooperation between Indonesia and Iran reached its peak, at least for the last couple of decades, with the number reaching 1.6 billion USD. That was the peak, at least for the last couple of decades.

Of course, now the number is a little bit declining. But again, this is also one of my tasks here as Ambassador—to find a way to increase the volume of trade between the two countries in order to reach the similar level or even exceed the previous level in the future.

I can share with you that some of the Iranian top commodities are very well known and practically needed in Indonesia, like steel, iron, bitumen, and in some cases also connected to food or agriculture, like dates, while the Indonesian commodities that are particularly listed as the top commodities for Iran are maybe connected to some agricultural materials or products like nuts, coffee, wood, and paper.

So again, this is only a small example of the economic and trading goods that are already being exchanged between the two countries.

And of course, it is going to be important to always explore the possibility of having more commodities traded between the two countries for the benefit of both.

And of course, for Indonesia, maybe one other thing—since we are one of the largest producers of palm oil, or even maybe the biggest producer of palm oil—it is our hope that the cooperation with Iran can also touch this particular palm-oil-related economic cooperation.

And last but not least, connected to this economic cooperation, actually we also intend to have strong collaboration and cooperation to increase our cooperation on high-tech medical devices from Iran, since we learned that you have very advanced technology with regard to medical devices that are practically needed in Indonesia. As you might be aware, Indonesia now has 280 million people.

So, it is not easy for the government to fulfill the needs of the Indonesian population.

And only through this kind of trading cooperation can we fulfill the needs of the Indonesian people.

During this year's speech at the UN, the Indonesian president said Jakarta wants to play a leading role in the Global South and advocate for reforming global governance to make it more just and inclusive. Could you elaborate on this view?

Let me start by emphasizing or highlighting one of the most important milestones in Indonesian foreign policy, which is the 1955 Bandung Conference. Actually, the formal heading is the Asia-African Conference in Bandung City in 1955 that later on became the momentum for the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement countries.

So, during that particular conference, all countries attending the conference already pledged that we need to work together to create a world that is very just, very fair, and also creating peace and providing security for all people in the world, as well as giving good living conditions.

And since then, for Indonesia, we always want to play a role in the international arena in order to create a more stable, peaceful, and just world that can be beneficial for everybody around the world.

And coming to these current situations, unfortunately, we are not living in an ideal world. So many problems, so many challenges faced by all countries in the world, so many open conflicts and wars still occur in various parts of the world.

And in this regard, it is going to be important for Indonesia to work with everybody in order to amplify the need for more cooperation and collaboration, not competition. Even if there will be competition, it should be competition in a positive way, not in a negative way.

And in this regard, we consider the current multilateral structures that exist now, in particular the United Nations, to have certain limitations or maybe even weaknesses. Therefore, there are many analytical studies and even formal policies from certain countries that practically put the UN in the category of failure, not really providing benefit to all members of the United Nations.

For Indonesia, it is going to be important to make sure that we can try to find a fix; we can try to find a way to fix the multilateral platform, especially the United Nations, in order to provide maximum benefits to members of the United Nations, the 190 member countries.

Of course, it's not going to be easy or fast, but we still believe in the spirit of multilateralism, where everybody will be treated equally.

And of course, it doesn't mean that we have to scrap or destroy the whole United Nations framework. We only need to make some adjustments here and there. And we need to agree on how to fix some of the flaws that are currently still being faced by the United Nations.

At the same time, we also need to be creative in finding possible other forums that will amplify cooperation between countries.

For example, Indonesia recently joined BRICS because we believe that the BRICS institution can be a good vehicle for its member countries, the 11 countries, to have strong collaborations on economic issues between developing countries that are members of BRICS.

That's only one of the examples.

But again, all platforms of cooperation—multilateral platforms, regional platforms, or even bilateral cooperation between countries around the world—should always be aimed toward collective benefit.

Because if we only concentrate on the benefit of certain countries, or even only consider ourselves alone, it will bring us in the wrong direction, as if we do not care about other people. So that's the way we see it.

How is the state of scientific cooperation and academic exchanges between the two countries, and what plans do you have to expand it?

Science, as well as technology, is, I think, one of the most important aspects that needs to be worked on together between our two countries. As a matter of fact, it was just today, this morning, that I met with the Vice Minister of Science and Technology from the Iranian government, discussing this cooperation and possible cooperation in the future.

For example, I can highlight one of the aspects that we are currently working on, which is that we, from the Ministry of Health, already work together with Iran in developing—or maybe we learn from Iran as stakeholders—regarding the telesurgery devices.

The one that's already been well developed by Iran, and we put these telesurgery devices in some of the major hospitals in Indonesia, because you can imagine with a 280 million population and people scattered all around the country with 17,000 islands.

For Indonesia, it's going to be difficult to have a presence in all islands. So that's why the telesurgery devices that have now been developed in Iran are going to be very beneficial for the Indonesian government, especially for the medical practitioners in Indonesia, to be able to exercise their medical practices all around Indonesia.

So, this is something, a small example, that we are already doing, and we are still going to continue to develop.

At least for last year, I think 2024 itself, we counted around 11 memorandums of understanding between academic institutions in Indonesia together with Iran. That's only last year, and it is our intention to find a possible way to enhance the number of memorandums of understanding between the academic institutions of the two countries.

However, for me, it's also important to note that the most important part is not only having the number of memorandums of understanding, but also having proper follow-up in order for the memorandums of understanding to be implemented and give benefit to everybody.

Do you have any statistics on Iranian tourists in Indonesia and vice versa? In your opinion, how can and should the significant potential of both countries in this field be realized, and what programs do you have in this regard?

Okay, with regard to tourism, actually, maybe I can share with you some of the data that we have with regard to the Iranian tourists that came to Indonesia. We don't really have the data with regard to the Indonesian tourists coming to Iran; maybe you can also check with the respective institutions in Iran, but at least for the number of Iranian tourists who came to Indonesia, as far as we have noted so far, I think the peak was during 2019, right before the pandemic, when the number of tourists coming from Iran reached around 10,000 persons.

And of course, during the pandemic, the number drastically went down, maybe around 2,000 something in the period of 2020, but now it is gradually starting to increase again.

As far as I know, the data from last year, 2024, shows that the number of tourists from Iran already reached around 9,000, so it's already almost the same as before the pandemic.

But again, actually—and I believe it is also felt by the respective Iranian institutions—the number is not really showing our potential. The closeness between the people of Iran and Indonesia is that close. There is always an intimate feeling, where we particularly want to experience things directly, we want to be connected to each other.

And that's why it is important to focus on the area of the tourism industry for the two countries. I also believe that tourism activities will have a direct impact on overall people-to-people contact, because through tourism, there will be some kind of understanding achieved between tourists from the two countries, and later on, hopefully, it can be a good building block toward closer cooperation between our two countries.

And in this regard, we would like to work together not only with the representatives of the tourism industry in Iran, maybe from the government side, but also with other stakeholders that work in tourism activities.

I can share with you that recently, from the Indonesian government, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we also invited several journalists from Iran, as well as influencers from Iran, to visit Indonesia for a couple of weeks, visiting certain places of interest in Indonesia, including Jakarta and Bali.

The idea was simple: through journalists, we can highlight the situations in Indonesia. Hopefully, it can give a sense for Iranians that Indonesia is not far, that Indonesia is close, we can visit each other anytime, and hopefully with that kind of positive energy and positive feeling, the cooperation between our two countries will be even stronger.

How long have you been in Iran? Which cities have you visited so far, and in your opinion, what are the differences between the real Iran and the Iran that Western media portrays to the world?

Good question. This is only my third month in Iran, so I'm a newcomer. There are still many things that I need to learn. There are still many things that I need to experience myself.

But for the last three months since I arrived here, I have only experienced good things. People are very warm. There are so many places of interest and historical stories that I need to learn. The food is great—something that I don't know whether I can fairly convey to anybody in Indonesia because they have to experience it themselves.

I'm afraid that if I'm the one telling the story, it will not give a fair reflection of the richness of Iran.

And of course, so far I have only visited several cities, like Tabriz, Qom, and Mashhad. I know it's still far from the ideal situation; I still need to explore more places of interest in Iran and learn about the history and culture of Iran.

But I can also objectively mention that there are some, or maybe big, gaps between the reality that I now experience myself and the way that some communities or countries outside Iran try to portray Iran and the situation in Iran.

So again, this is why, for me, there should be a genuine interest between people to people in order to bypass this kind of miscommunication and misunderstanding between countries, people, and communities. It should be bridged by the people themselves.

So that's why I am always at the forefront of supporting any activities that will enhance people’s understanding of certain situations.

So, in this regard, at least from the perspective of Indonesia, we are going to be more than happy to work together with Iran and also try to give a more objective perspective and share it with the whole world about the greatness of the people and the government of Iran.