president.ir- President of the Islamic Republic of Iran left Tehran for China to take part in the Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at the official invitation of the President of China.
Speaking at Mehrabad Airport before leaving for China, President Hassan Rouhani said: First, I would like to mention the important day of Quds. Peoples attendance and protests and their slogans means the people of Iran and all Muslims are close to the people of Palestine.
Today, peoples announce that the liberation of Quds and the entire Palestinian land is the cause and wish of all of them and this cause will never be forgotten, continued Rouhani.
He also stated that Israel can never feed that it is situated in a safe and secure place, adding: Israel must know that it is always a usurper of others land and always a tyrant; it must know that a great nation will not let go of their homeland.
Expressing hope that the people of Palestine will go back to their own lands one day, the President added: God-willing, this years Quds Day will be held more glorious than previous years.
On his visit to China, he continued: This visit is taking place at the invitation of the President of China to attend the 17th SCO Summit. This organisation is based on cooperation and coordination for the security of the region and today, we are witnessing issues like terrorism, extremism and many issues that threaten stability and security of the world, and our region in particular, Central Asia and Western Asia.
During the past 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had many priceless experiences in fighting terrorism and extremism in Iran and the world and it has always been a victim of terrorism, but on the other hand, it has always been victorious against the conspiracies of terrorists.
He continued: The other issue that should be discussed in this summit is the unilateralism of the United States. Americans have been thinking that they are leader of the world, and now, they think that they can decide for the world. The fact that Americans withdraw from a multilateral and international treaty in a unilateral action against all international regulations and without a reason or even pretext, is an insult to the international community in violation of Resolution 2231 of the Security Council of the United States; fortunately, this wrong action has been condemned unanimously be overwhelming majority of the countries of the world.
The entire world must feel that the way the US has chosen in a dangerous one for international relations and keeping international regulations in action, and it undermines international treaties. Other countries must not remain silent towards this illegal action. With regard to the fact that two of the former 5+1 member countries, Russia and China, are present in this summit, and it is natural that this issue will be discussed as well, continued Rouhani.
He added: The Islamic Republic of Iran has always believed that the issues and complications in the region must be resolved through political ways and today in the region, we are witnessing aggression and insecurity against some countries, as well as claims of separatism in some countries, and interference of major countries in the region. We believe that the way to resolve these issues is through political and multilateral discussions and holding of regional summits.
"We believe we should have a stronger, more secure, more developed region, and the realisation of this goal is possible through cooperation that we can achieve through diplomacy and through negotiation," the president said.
Dr Rouhani added: In this visit, we will also have bilateral meetings with the Presidents of China, Russia and other countries, such as Pakistan, and I hope that this visit will be useful both for security of the region and for relations of Iran with the countries participating in this summit.
Dr Rouhani is accompanied by his chief of staff, vice-president for economic affairs, and ministers of foreign affairs, economy and petroleum, as well as the governor of the central bank.