Countering Iran, Russia no good for Trump: Russia’s Tehran envoy

Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan said that confronting Iran and Russia won’t help the US. Dzhagaryan said in an interview with Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), ‘I hope Trump’s administration sooner or later will realize that facing Iran and Russia and other countries is unnecessary and doesn’t benefit the US.’ , AVA Diplomatic reports.

He said before Donald Trump became the US president, he had repeatedly said that he was going to take up a policy other than that of Obama’s towards Russia and would try to improve the ties between the US and Russia and ‘that was what we expected’.

Regarding human rights, he said, ‘The Americans accuse others of violating the Human Rights, but in reality they are the first and the biggest violator of the international laws; not international laws, but jungle laws rule the US.’

Saying that Russia wants the relations with the US to improve, Dzhagaryan added, ‘We have common problems, like terrorism; but, because they don’t show any inclination, we don’t insist.’

He also said, ‘American people are one thing, and the American government another; the American people are really great and we highly respect them. But the policies of some US politicians are wrong and dangerous.’

Answering a question about why President Donald Trump’s, or even Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s, previous acquaintance with President Vladimir Putin hasn’t worked here, he said, ‘I think because they have limited possibilities; if he (the US president) decides to do anything, the US congress won’t let him.’

He added, because the majority of the Democrats, and some Republicans, are hostile too Russia, I suppose, if Trump wants to improve ties, even the Veto Right won’t help him.’

Talking about Trump’s ‘America First’ motto, he said, ‘Many American citizens are homeless, so he should focus on that; ‘America First should be shown in action, not in words’.

Regarding the Iran, Russia, and Turkey’s actions against terrorism in Iraq and Syria, the Russian ambassador in Tehran said, ‘With this cooperation, we can say a new page was opened in fighting Jebhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front) and Daesh (ISIS); we have had seven meetings in Astana, Kyrgyzstan.’

Dzhagaryan added, ‘We know that Russia’s special envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev visited Iran and had meetings with Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani and Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari for further coordination.’

‘The mentioned meetings focused on de-escalation zones; three were agreed upon and the fourth one, Idlib, is still being negotiated,’ the ambassador said.

Russia insists on safeguarding Syria’s territorial integrity; and Bashar al-Assad is the legal president of Syria. His staying or leaving depends on the Syrians’ votes. No one has the right to tell Assad to quit, said Dzhagaryan.

He added that Russia believes, first, the terrorist should be suppressed, and then, after preparing the constitution, an election can be held.

He also said that al-Assad is part of Syrian political procedure, and, of course, the opposition should have roles too, but without foreign interference; ‘we should just help.’

We negotiate with the moderate opposition groups so that the form a unified mission so that they can negotiate with the Syrian legal government’s representatives, the ambassador added.

He said that he is very optimistic about Astana Talks and that Russia, Iran and Turkey have regular contacts.

Regarding energy, he said that Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak and Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh are in touch. Russia will hold Energy Week in a month, and the Iran’s high-ranking petroleum officials are already invited.

About North Korea, Dzhagaryan said that pressing the country will be of no use and the only solution is negotiation.

As representative of the Russian government, he advised the European Union to take up independent policies of the US. They need not ask for US’ permission for any deal. This is ‘belittling’.