TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined the country's influence and power in the region, and said attempts to omit Tehran from regional equations will lead to further tensions."The countries which try to exclude Iran (from the equations in the region) both harm their own and the region's interests and create conflicts in the region, and they should be sure that omitting Iran from this region is impossible and any efforts to this end will merely lead to tension," Zarif said on the sidelines of the 51st international security conference in Munich.
"Iran's role will benefit all the regional states and our neighbors in the Persian Gulf region and doesnt harm anyone," he said.
Zarif underlined the necessity for other countries to understand this reality that Iran remains a powerful and influential state in the region with or without the nuclear talks underway with the world powers.
In relevant remarks in November, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani reiterated the country's regional clout and influential role, and said even the US statesmen had admitted to this reality.
Addressing a local gathering in the Northeastern province of Khorassan Razavi, Larijani referred to Iran's huge achievements in regional and international levels, and said that even Americans had admitted Iran's influential role in the region.
He also criticized those who believed they had succeeded to damage Iran's economy, and said, "We have run the country with $6 billion during the imposed war time. Today the situation is different and we have learnt how to overcome difficulties."
Also in the same month, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli underlined that the country's influential role in the region and its regional clout made Washington to sit to the negotiating table with Tehran.
"Iran's regional clout forced the US to hold negotiations with Iran," Rahmani Fazli said in a meeting with Head of the Central Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Meng Jianzhu in Tehran.
He said that the US had led the imposition of cruel sanctions against Tehran to restrict Iran's regional clout.
Rahmani Fazli downplayed the effects of sanctions against Tehran, and said, "The Iranian people and government have always proved that they enjoy the spirit and power of resistance against the enemies' bullying and prates."
By Fars News Agency
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