The chairman of the Expediency Council stressed the necessity of remaining vigilant and maintaining "solidarity" in the face of regional threats.
"While criticizing each other's (performance), we should stay vigilant…and strive to maintain our unity," Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was quoted by ISNA as saying on Monday.
He made the call in an address at a ceremony held to mark National Teachers' Day at Tehran's prestigious Amir Kabir University of Technology. Pointing to the crisis visiting some regional countries, namely Yemen, Syria and Iraq, he urged the officials in Tehran to remain extra cautious to prevent the dangerous crises from spilling over into Iran.
"Given the current conditions, it is our responsibility to remain prepared," and help defend the country against potential threats.
On the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the six world powers (the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia), Rafsanjani said, "Now most countries in the world have come to realize that we are following the logic of peace and intend to use nuclear energy solely for peaceful purposes."
"The US Congress and pro-Israeli lobbyists have been working against us," the senior cleric said. "So we should avoid creating difficulties (for the negotiators), who are endeavoring to help restore the rights of our people."
The former resident expressed the hope that with the end of the international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, if the nuclear talks produce the desired results, "better conditions will emerge in the country that would augur well for development."
Even if ongoing diplomacy to close the nuclear dossier fails and sanctions hang around, "we will continue our path," he said. Referring to the problems of teachers, he said, "One of our primary responsibilities is to help preserve the status and stature of teachers."
He denounced Saudi Arabia's airstrikes against Yemen, saying, "Saudi Arabia is at the service of arrogant powers." Rafsanjani described Iran as a powerful country with a key role in helping protect regional security, saying that the "existence of strong regional nations is obviously not in the interest of the arrogant powers.
