Raisi: No Need for Foreigners’ Interference in Region

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian President Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi said the region does not need foreigners' meddling because its problems should be resolved through intraregional interaction.

"We insist that the region's problems should be resolved among the regional countries themselves and through active participation of the countries [of the region]," Raisi said during a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.

"[Therefore] there is no need for foreigners' interference," he added.

Addressing the issue of the bilateral ties, Raisi then announced that the countries were to hold a joint meeting in Tehran in the near future, and that their cooperation was to enter a "new stage."

Raisi also underlined the importance of the states' bilateral cooperation in the area of fighting terrorism, saying, "The chief way of fighting terrorism consists in [according] respect to [various] countries' sovereignty."

Erdogan, for his part, laid emphasis on the importance of the countries' economic and security cooperation.

"Currently, the idea of joint cooperation has come to the fore among the regional countries," he said, citing the recent shuttling visits among the regional officials as cases in point.