The spokesman for the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said Iran will continue backing resistance groups against the Israeli regime. In an interview with ICANA on Tuesday, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said, "Iran continues its support for the Palestinian resistance groups and Lebanon's Hezbollah and backs all the oppressed nations all over the world."
"(Iran) stands against US bullying, so the statements of US officials regarding Iran's support for Lebanon's Hezbollah are irrelevant, and (Iran) needs no relations with the US," he stated. Referring to US President Barack Obama's remarks that "Iran could become a very successful regional power," Naqavi Hosseini said, "Thanks to its scientific, economic, military and defensive achievements and particularly its advances in the area of energy, Iran is currently a major regional power, which is approved and acknowledged by the US and other western countries every now and then."
The parliamentarian continued, "Iran is now staging a war game… in which the latest defense achievements have been put on display."
On Obama's assertion that he has managed to push Iran into isolation during his term in office with the help of its allies, he stated, "Contrary to what the US believes, Iran is not only far from being an isolated country in the region, but it enjoys extensive economic and political relations with most of the world's states."
"Of course, some pressure and sanctions have affected such relations, but it is now the US that has been isolated in the region," he added.
In an interview with NPR News, Obama said Iran could become a "very successful regional power" if Tehran agrees to a long-term deal on its nuclear program. "They've got a chance to get right with the world," Obama said in the interview, which was taped at the White House on Dec. 18 and is set to air this week, Reuters reported on Monday.
Obama told NPR that Iran should seize the chance of a deal that could lift sanctions that have negatively affected its economy.
"Because if they do, there's incredible talent and resources and sophistication inside of Iran and it would be a very successful regional power that was also abiding by international norms and international rules - and that would be good for everybody," he said.
