TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham underlined that Iran expects a completely different and new approach from the western countries with regard to human rights issues.As regards the human rights issues we demand a new and different approach by the West, Afkham said, addressing a weekly press conference on Tuesday.
She stressed that if the western countries adopt a constructive approach and far from politicization, there will be the possibility of cooperation in different areas, including human rights.
The foreign ministry spokeswoman underlined that Iran has clear stances on human rights issues, and said, We have laid emphasis on avoiding politicization of human rights debates and rejected the (West's) double-standard approach in our talks with different European officials in the past and the present.
Last month, Secretary of Irans Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani underlined that the Wests unacceptable behavior towards Iran is a clear indication of its violation of human rights.
The western countries claim that human rights has a special place in their domestic and foreign policy, but in practice their behavior is in such a way that it shows this claim has no authenticity, Larijani said in a meeting with the Swedish Foreign Ministrys Consular director general and his accompanying delegation in Tehran.
Larijani pointed to the Wests behavior towards Iran in the past and present, and said, No one can deny that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the biggest and the only democracy in the Middle East, but you see how the westerners, specially the US, who consider themselves as supporters of human rights and advocates of the promotion of democracy treat Iran that is the hub of democracy in the region and they want to put our nation under the harshest pressures with different kinds of sanctions and discriminations.
He further warned the West against sheltering terrorist groups, cautioning that unfortunately some European capitals have turned into heavens of terrorists.
Earlier this month, Larijani lambasted the US for leading the global front against Iran, and said Washingtons hostilities towards Tehran have a long record.
Today, the US is holding the flag of a front which has the silliest animosity towards Iran and our peoples hostility towards the US is not limited to the last 30 years and has a long record back in the history, Larijani said in the Northern province of Mazandaran in early November.
He described the US-led sanctions against Iran as cruel, and said the embargos are a clear violation of human rights and have grown so tough that the western states dont allow our university students to study in other countries.
Western countries, led by the US, accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.
Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions and the western embargos for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.
By Fars News Agency
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