A lawmaker denounced a joint statement by France and Saudi Arabia suggesting a rapprochement with Tehran, likely to result from the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the major powers, including France, could further destabilize the region, saying France is playing "bad cop".
"The French have been playing the role of bad cop all along the negotiations, as instructed by the Zionists," Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told ICANA on Tuesday. After a meeting in Riyadh on Monday, President Hollande and Saudi Arabia's King Salman said in the statement that "France and Saudi Arabia confirmed the necessity to reach a robust, lasting, verifiable, undisputed and binding deal with Iran."
"This agreement must not destabilize the security and stability of the region nor threaten the security and stability of Iran's neighbors," the statement added.
Noting that such remarks are meant to interfere with the process of nuclear talks, Naqavi Hosseini said, "It is among the tactics the Zionists have been using in their propaganda campaigns conducted through their media to promote Iranophobia and spread the idea that a nuclear Iran would be a threat to its neighbors and the Middle East."
The spokesperson for the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee voiced Iran's readiness to expand cooperation with its neighboring countries, saying Iran's nuclear energy is not a "threat", but rather an "opportunity".
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to cooperate with its neighbors through sharing its knowledge and technology to help them develop the capability of producing nuclear energy."
"Achievements by the Islamic Republic should be regarded as an opportunity for our neighbors and the Middle East, rather than a threat," Naqavi Hosseini stressed.
He called on other parties to nuclear talks (the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia and China) to take measures to stop France's unilateral actions which might undermine the negotiations.
