TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined Tehran’s policy of not interfering in its neighbors’ affairs, stressing that the Islamic Republic seeks close ties with all regional countries, including Arab states.

“We are willing to establish close relations with all regional countries,” Foreign Minister Zarif said in a Sunday meeting with a delegation of journalists from seven Arab countries, held in Tehran.

Slamming as “failed” the policy of omitting the role of different countries in the region, Zarif underscored that Iran wants all governments to play a role in the security of the region.

He also reiterated Iran’s policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of the neighboring countries.

“We want nothing from the Arab world, but friendship,” he said in response to the editor of a Jordanian newspaper who asked about Iran’s expectations from Arab countries.

Zarif underlined that Iran will stand beside Arab states for the sake of the region’s security, stability and progress, whether the “Arab friends” recognize it or not.

The fact that Iran managed to strike a deal with the Western countries with which it has few commonalities, signifies that it will definitely reach a conclusion with its Arab brothers, Foreign Minister Zarif noted, making a reference to a final nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

He further deplored the identical stances adopted by Saudi Arabia and Israel towards Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

“Iran’s gain is not tantamount to Saudi Arabia’s loss, and Saudi Arabia’s gain does not mean Iran’s loss, either,” the minister stated.

Pointing to the crises in Syria and Yemen, Zarif stressed that a political solution to those conflicts is readily at hand today.

He emphasized the need for an immediate end to the “futile war” in Yemen that has continued for seven months.

On March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies began to launch deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

More than 5,400 people, many of them children and women, have been killed in the aggression against the Arab country so far.

By Tasnim News Agency