IRI admonishes India over Israel ties

The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the growing bilateral ties between India and the Zionist Regime will do no good to the cause of Palestine, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sayyed Mohammad-Ali Husseini said in an interview.

"It does not befit a country like India to engage a regime who have committed numerous crimes in the past," he argued.

"Promoting relations with the Zionist regime which does not support the Palestinian rights, does not help the Palestinian people to get their full rights," Hosseini told the leading Indian English daily Asian Age.

Hosseini said that the Zionist regime has hundreds of atomic bombs which is a threat in the region, but adding it is the sovereign right of India to decide how to conduct diplomatic relations with the countries of the world.

"It is a decision for India to make relations with any other party and we (Iran) as an independent country make our decisions and we choose our policy concerning different countries according to our values and our interests," he explained.

Hosseini reiterated that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not surrender its legitimate right to enrich uranium on its own territory.

"It is a legal right of Iranians to have ene Iranian diplomat further said that Iran will be willing to share its experience in the field of civil nuclear energy with the Arab states in the region.

"We express our readiness also to present our improvement in nuclear field to neighbouring countries and (share our) experience to help them," he said.

Hosseini criticized American President George Bush for fanning "Iranophobia" and making "baseless accusations" against Iran during his eight-day (January 9 to 16) tour of West Asia.

He suggested that the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council's (PGCC's) invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend their summit at Qatar in December 2007 and Egypt's overtures towards Iran shows that the Arab states are willing to engage in confidence building measures with Iran.

The PGCC comprises Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.

PGCC-Iran rapprochement shows that the American policy of dividing Iran and the Arab states is not fruitful, Hosseini said.

"Arab states expressed willingness to promote relations with Iran. They said it is a necessity for the region."

"It shows that relations between Iran and Arab states in our region is expanding and we are in the way to solve all problems and confidence building policy is taking place by both sides and we are witnessing the results of this cooperation," he added.

Hosseini asserted that the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued and will go on to help world deprived people wherever they are, irrespective of whether they are Shii or Sunni.

"We defend the rights of the deprived regardless of religion or sect. Palestine is not a Shii-Sunni issue. We defended the people in Afghanistan and Iraq too," he said, and recalled that there was no sectarian strife prior to the occupation of Iraq by the American forces.

Hosseini led an Iranian delegation comprising media persons to India ahead of a possible visit to Tehran by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later this year.