Iran Majlis rejects European Parliament invitation to visit Europe

Chairman of Iran’s parliamentary relations with the European Parliament has rejected the EP invitation for a delegation of Iran Majlis to visit Europe.

On Thursday, Tarja Cronberg, the chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iran, made a phone call to Kazem Jalali, extending EP’s invitation to the Iranian parliamentary delegation to visit Europe.

In response, Jalali rejected the invitation due to EP’s recent resolution against Iran about the human rights condition in the country.

The Iranian official said, “It is not possible for the Iranian parliamentary delegation to travel to Europe and I hope that a Europe visit takes place in a better condition and with a new EP stance towards the Iranian nation.”

Jalali slammed the recent EP resolution and said the measure came at a time when the Iranian parliamentary delegation was preparing for its trip to Europe.

On April 3, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the EU strategy toward Iran, expressing concern over the alleged human rights violations in the country.

It also claimed that Iran’s presidential election in June 2013, which was marked by a high voter turnout and led to the victory of President Hassan Rouhani, was “not held according to the democratic standards valued by the EU.”

Jalali criticized the European Parliament for its failure to understand new developments in Iran following the election of President Rouhani. He said the recent anti-Iran resolution provided the Zionists and other Western ill-wishers with a pretext to halt promotion of Iran-Europe ties.

The Iranian official also stated that the Iranian public opinion has been negatively affected by the EP resolution and the European body should adopt realistic decisions to change the mentality.