Iran hopes for change in West confrontation approach

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says Tehran hopes that the West will shift from confrontation to cooperation and interaction with the Islamic Republic once Iranian president-elect Hassan Rohani takes office early next month.

In a meeting with the new German Ambassador to Tehran, Michael Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg, on Monday, Salehi received a copy of his credentials and added that Germany is an “important and influential” country in the international community and in Europe.

He lauded good political relations between Iran and Germany, noting the two sides enjoy enormous potentials to improve relations, particularly in economic and trade sectors.

“Iran has very large capacities for cooperation with Europe and particularly with Germany on various political, security, economic, trade and energy issues,” the Iranian minister pointed out.

The German ambassador, for his part, said Iran’s culture and history as well as its influence on regional and global stability and security.

He expressed hope that Tehran and Berlin would expand relations especially in economic and trade fields after Rohani’s inauguration on August 4.

Rohani won Iran’s June 14 presidential election with an outright victory.