Iran's Rouhani says up to U.S. to improve relations with Tehran
The United States cannot solve any problems
in the Middle East without Iran's help and should drop its "hostile"
stance toward Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday.
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| Iran President Hassan Rouhani attends a news conference in Rome, Italy, January 27, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro … |
On his first official visit to Europe,
Rouhani also took a swipe at regional arch rival Saudi Arabia, saying its
military campaign in neighboring Yemen was a failure and a frustration.
Rouhani is midway through a four-day trip to
Italy and France, looking to burnish his country's international credentials
following the signing last year of a nuclear accord with world powers and the
lifting of financial sanctions.
While EU firms are lining up to sign
lucrative business deals, the United States is keeping some of its sanctions in
place, accusing Tehran of funding what it considers to be terror groups, and
ties between the two nations remain terse.
"It's possible that Iran and the United
States might have friendly relations. But the key to that is in Washington's
hands, not Tehran's," Rouhani told a news conference, saying he would be
happy to see U.S. businessmen in Iran.
"I would like to see the Americans set
aside their hostility and chose another way, but inside the U.S. there are some
problems, there is no unified voice," he said, noting that "the
Zionist lobby" was "very influential".
He also rejected accusations that Iran was
funding terror organizations. "It is clear that Iran is a country opposed
to terrorism and a country that fights terrorism," he said.
The United States is the dominant foreign
power in the Middle East, sporting close ties with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and
Israel, and is militarily involved in both Iraq and Syria, where it is battling
Sunni jihadist group, Islamic State.
"The Americans know very well that when
it comes to important regional issues they cannot achieve anything without
Iran's influence or say," Rouhani said, speaking through a translator.
Shi'ite Muslim Iran is the closest backer of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Western countries support his mainly
Sunni Muslim opponents. However, Tehran and the West are united in their
opposition to Islamic State.
Adding to tensions in the region is the
recent deterioration in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Riyadh broke
off diplomatic ties with Tehran this month in an escalating row over the Saudi
execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric.
Rouhani said Saudi was acting out of
frustration, branding its 10-month military campaign in Yemen against the
Houthi militia, who are allied to Iran, as a flop.
"It is angry because of its
failures," he said. "Saudi Arabia has been bombing the impoverished
people of Yemen for 10 months and has not achieved anything. It has not had any
victory and is hated more than ever by the Yemeni people."
