Iran is, and will continue to be a major player in Middle East

In response to a question about his views on Iran’s role in the region, he said that Iran is, and will be a major player. He believed that no one can wish away Iran from the Middle East, Iran will play a part, and should play a part and as he put it, Iran should play a constructive part in the Middle East. He also said that this is something that should be recognised by others in the region and by the Americans under Trump’s administration.
Asked how he sees the future of relations between the West and Iran, which has become hostile after a period of warmth immediately after the nuclear deal, he said that he does not necessarily believe everyone in the West is hostile to Iran, neither everyone in the Trump’s administration is hostile to Iran. He continued by saying that if you look at other signatories of the nuclear deal, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany, they have all said that they are standing by the nuclear agreement, although there are other countries whih are hostile to the deal, chief among them Israel and Saudi Arabia, as he put it.
When asked whether in his view the Americans will leave the deal or continue with it, he said that what happened (on signing the sanctions’ waiver) was fairly complex. By this he meant that Trump first refused to certify the deal, but he sent it to Congress, which in his view may be not a bad thing. He said that his personal view is that the Congress may add some other conditions, but Congress and its representatives are not in a mood to completely tear up the deal.
In relation to the new rhetoric coming out of Europe in harmony with the Trump’s government, Kim said that certainly Europeans want to show some solidarity with the US, especially when there are certain difficulties in the relations in regards to EU and NATO, so they use the rhetoric to show to Americans that they understand their position, although they themselves have legitimate concerns in regards to some other issues such as Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
He also said that he does not think that the UK pulls out of the deal if the American’s does, but one should bear in mind that if the US leaves the deal, that would pose tremendous problems, and consequently trading with Iran will be difficult for other parties; therefore other alternative avenues and systems must be looked at.
When asked why in his opinion the Iranian Revolution and its aspiration for independence attracts so much hostility from the West, he said that hostility is confined only to some quarters. He said that he has travelled to Iran for several times and on reporting election he had seen a lot of changes that as a journalist he would say they were changes for the better. He said that people’s voices in Iran is being heard and despite what is portrayed from Iran in the West, Iran is not a monolith and there are other voices there. He said that in his view President Rouhani is following reforms but obviously like everywhere else in the world, he faces some challenges from those who resist reforms. He stressed that in his view the hostility certainly is not among the ordinary people. Although he believed there is some hostility in the Western governments and certainly from Israel and Saudi Arabia. He said however, that in his opinion this hostility will not go away and will continue unless there is a major realignment in the Middle East.
About the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia he said that everyone has to recognise that the situation in Yemen is a disaster. This war is not coming to an end, but is going to continue. He criticised Saudis for not letting reporters go to San’a. He said that Saudi Arabia has a new young leader who wants to pursue an aggressive policy both at home and abroad. But he said that the Saudi foreign policy had not worked; as the Yemen war is not won, their backed forces in Syria failed, their attempt to sack Hariri in Lebanon failed and Hezbollah is stronger than ever. He then said that in his opinion what happens in the Middle East in the near future has more to do with what happens in Saudi Arabia rather than what happens in Iran.
Hadi Naderi**1396
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