Tehran, Oct 31, IRNA – A senior Foreign Ministry official has announced that Iran will sign the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) after Majlis (Parliament) expresses its written approval.


It seems that Majlis has no problem with the issue, Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour said Sunday evening.

Rahimpour, who was talking on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the 93rd anniversary of Turkey's Republic in Tehran, rejected any existing problem with Iran's membership in the ASEAN's TAC.

Everything needed to that membership has been done, but the treaty should symbolically be signed in the presence of the leaders' member states, said Rahimpour adding, 'We postponed signing the treaty until after Majlis approval.'

Turning to the problems between Iraq and Turkey, Rahimpour said that if Iraq and Turkey make a request from us, Iran will have no problem to act as a mediator between the two countries.

Rahimpour referred to the remarks made by Supreme Leader's Senior Advisor Ali Akbar Velayati who had expressed Iran's readiness to that mediation.

About the 47th meeting of special working group on the Caspian Sea legal status that was held in the Iranian capital on October 23, Rahimpour said the next meeting will be held in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan and the session after that in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The summit meeting is slated for 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan, the official added.

He rejected the idea of sharing the Caspian Sea among the littoral states and said, 'All of the Caspian Sea is for all of these countries.'

By IRNA