Tehran Cautiously Welcomes EU Resolution

Iran cautiously welcomed a European Union resolution on the future of the bloc's relations with Tehran, but said the documents also contain some "unrealistic points" about the country.

The European Parliament on Thursday voted on a roadmap for relations with Iran, charting out "the EU strategy toward Iran after the nuclear agreement."

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said the resolution contains "positive and promising points that can help expand relations between Iran and the European Union and open a new horizon in bilateral ties", Press TV reported.

"However, this resolution also contains some points concerning the human rights situation in Iran, which do not correlate with the existing realities and are partly affected by the negative propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.

The spokesman said such content is not conducive to the betterment of relations between the Islamic Republic and the EU.

"While human rights negotiations are set to be held between Iran and the EU in the near future, the adoption of such positions is questionable and unconstructive, and does not in any way help elevate the human rights discourse and [only] reinforces speculations of intervention in our country's domestic affairs," he said.

Qasemi noted that while the resolution had a merely advisory nature and was not binding, the members of the European Parliament better be more realistic and more forward-looking.

The resolution foresees the normalization of the bloc's ties with Iran following the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. The EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy coordinated the talks that culminated in the deal.

Authored by Richard Howitt, who represents Britain's Labour Party at the European Parliament, the document "welcomes Iran's contribution to the fight against ISIS [an acronym for the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group]," but also criticizes Iran's human rights record.