MNA – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani met and held talks with Chairman of Qatar’s Consultative Assembly, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmud, on the sidelines of 12th plenary meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) in Antalya, Turkey.

During the meeting held on Saturday, Larijani highlighted the amicable ties between Iran and Qatar, saying “We see Qatar’s role in the region as positive; unfortunately, the sanctions imposed against Qatar were outrageous, but the country resisted well and its tactics helped against growing isolated.”

“We will always hold close consultations with you over important regional issues, and we are also interested in developing economic relations with your country,” Larijani told his Qatari counterpart at the meeting.

“Many Iranian businessmen are interested in working with Qatar, so conditions need to be provided,” Larijani said. “We welcome any proposal to develop relations between the two countries.”

The Qatari official, for his part, hailed Iran’s stance against the sanctions imposed on Qatar, saying “Qatar's index of progress and development improved under sanctions compared to other countries in the region, according to the World Bank’s report.”

Pointing out that the lifting of the anti-Qatar sanctions was conditioned on cutting ties with Iran, he stressed that "We did not accept any of those 13 conditions; in fact, we only agree to dialogue without preconditions."

On the issue of Palestine, he said, “We have repeatedly said that we will not sacrifice Palestine’s important interests and that the Palestinian people must determine their fate. At the conference of Arab States in the West, I also emphasized that Qatar is with the Palestinian people wholeheartedly.”