President Rouhani: EU Parliament Too Small to Insult Great Iranian Nation

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani blasted the Friday approval of an anti-Iran Human Rights resolution by the European Parliament, and said the EP is “too small to insult the great Iranian nation”.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s government attaches no importance to such resolutions and the European Parliament is too small to insult the great Iranian nation,” Rouhani said, addressing a number of Iranian legislators, officials and political activists in Tehran on Monday.

Meantime, he referred to certain paragraphs of the resolution which underline the necessity for merely using political solutions to settle Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West, and said this contradicts the US officials’ remarks that all options are on the table against Iran.

Yet, the Iranian president said the resolution contained some rather positive points as well. “Emphasizing the development of cooperation with Iran and welcoming the temporary nuclear deal and efforts to reach a permanent agreement are among the positive points of the resolution.”

The resolution adopted by the European Parliament in its Friday meeting in Brussels called for meetings between EU delegations and Iranian dissidents and opposition leaders and criticized the presidential elections in Iran.

The European’s move has angered officials in Tehran as it has been adopted after the western states voiced their consent and pleasure in the betterment of ties with Iran following a breakthrough deal over Tehran’s nuclear program.

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif deplored the European parliament’s anti-Iran resolution, and underlined that Tehran will not permit the European legislators to set prerequisites for visiting Iran.

“The government will not allow any European parliamentary delegation to visit Iran based on the preconditions set in the European parliament’s resolution,” Zarif said, addressing members of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission in Tehran on Sunday.

“The Europeans should know that the great and civilized Iranian nation seeks interaction with other states based on mutual respect and equal footings and doesn’t tolerate any insulting and interfering behaviors by any stream and country,” he added.

On Saturday, senior Iranian parliamentary officials disclosed that the legislature also plans to study a proposal for halting the nuclear talks with the six world powers in reaction to the EP Resolution.

Ranking member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Hassan Asafari told FNA that a group of MPs plan to introduce the proposal at the floor of the parliament in its open session on Sunday.

“This proposal will be presented to the government tomorrow as we expect the foreign ministry to show a serious reaction to the EP resolution,” Asafari said.

The lawmaker cautioned that in case the proposal goes unheeded by the government, “the parliament members will introduce a relevant bill to require the government to take action in this regard”.

Yet, he expressed the hope that the government would act upon the parliament proposal to make further action by the legislature unnecessary.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham blasted the EP, and said the resolution is “unfounded and unacceptable”.
“The endorsement of a resolution regarding ties with Iran and human rights situation in the country by the EU parliament is unfounded and unacceptable,” Afkham told reporters.

She reiterated that the fact that a number of hardline MPs in the EU parliament have undertaken efforts to adopt an imperative stance and continue an ambitious trend, which is rooted in ancient times’ thoughts, does not comply with any political and international criterion and logic.

Afkham had also on Wednesday dismissed the draft resolution as “unrealistic and counterproductive”.