No foreign policy change in new administration: Kharrazi

Tehran Times:

TEHRAN -- Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said here on Tuesday that Iran’s foreign policy will not change after President-Elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes office next month.

“Iran’s firm and official policy is to maintain dιtente and expand cooperation with various countries around the world, and this policy will be pursued by the new government,” Kharrazi told a group of foreign ambassadors in Tehran.

He noted that the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy is based on the 20-year Outlook Plan as well as the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan.

“We will certainly not establish any ties with countries that oppose the Islamic system and are hostile toward the Iranian nation. This will be our permanent policy,” Kharrazi said.

“Our macro policies are outlined by the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei) and the government is obliged to implement them,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

“Therefore, some worries about changing those policies are baseless. The new government, like (President Mohammad) Khatami’s government, will follow the same route. “One of those macro policies is our policy regarding the nuclear issue. Khatami's government has always insisted that the use of peaceful nuclear technology is Iran's obvious right.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, the foreign minister called Iran’s ninth presidential election a demonstration of democracy.

Those mounting propaganda campaigns meant to discredit Iran’s presidential election should change their attitude and respect the will of the Iranian nation, he said. He noted that the poll, which was held enthusiastically with a turnout of over 60%, was a completely internal matter, adding, “The double-standard policies adopted by certain countries toward the issue of democracy in Iran indicate their hostility toward the Iranian people.”

Kharrazi called the recent election a referendum, saying the first and second rounds of the poll were a referendum on the values of the Islamic Revolution and the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“I hope the world will realize the meaning of this referendum,” he added. Commenting on the wave of Western media propaganda attacks against Iran’s president-elect, the foreign minister said, “These hasty attacks have other motives and will only lead to the disgrace of those who have launched them.”