Massive turnout in Rouhani’s inauguration sign of world respect for Iran: Larijani

The massive turnout of foreign dignitaries in the inauguration ceremony of President Hassan Rouhani displayed the failure of Iranophobic practices and showed how world countries respect Iran and are eager to have relations with it, says the country’s Parliament (Majlis) speaker.

The presence of roughly 500 foreign guests, including 130 high-ranking officials from 105 countries, in the inauguration ceremony was “indicative of the respect that governments and nations have for the Iranian nation,” Speaker Ali Larijani said at the Parliament on Tuesday, three days after the venue hosted the president’s inauguration ceremony.

“The passionate turnout at the president’s inauguration ceremony indicates that the project aimed at isolating Iran is void and does not go anywhere, and that different countries are interested in having relations with the Islamic Republic,” Larijani said.

The high level of participation, he said, came in spite of constant propagandizing against the Islamic Republic and the massive amounts of money spent on that practice.

The United States’ aggressive attempts to place Iran under economic pressure were also proven null by the massive turnout of the foreign representatives, which indicated international interest in business ties with Tehran, Larijani said.

“The respect accorded to Iran by various countries was an achievement in terms of [how] national interests [were served],” Larijani said.

Among the VIPs at the inauguration ceremony were the European Union (EU)’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini; Britain’s Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt; Deputy Danish Foreign Minister Jonas Bering Liisberg; Deputy Italian Foreign Minister Vincenzo Amendola; Deputy Austrian Parliament Speaker Karlheinz Kopf; and the Netherlands’ former prime minister Wim Kok.

Other senior guests included Iraqi President Fuad Massoum; Afghan President Ashraf Ghani; Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis; Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri; the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea, Kim Yong-nam; South Korean Parliament Speaker Chung Sye-kyun; South Africa’s Minister of State Security David Mahlobo; and Cuba’s Vice President Ulises Rosales del Toro.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the high level of foreign participation in the president’s inauguration ceremony signified “the world’s new approach toward Iran.”

The turnout was “a clear signal of the defeat of the policy of Iranophobia,” Qassemi said on Monday.