The top German diplomat says Iran should prove to be a "responsible" international partner by adopting a cooperative approach in its foreign policy.
"Iran could act as a responsible partner by playing a more constructive role and cooperating with the international community and its regional neighbors," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Saturday.
But the decision in this regard rests with Iran itself, he said.
He made the remarks during a meeting of the Munich Security Conference in Tehran on the war in Syria and Iran's global and regional role after the July 14 nuclear agreement with major powers.
"There are many [allegations] about Iran's intentions in the region which might be baseless and unfair," Steinmeier said, adding, "We realize that Iran has its own security concerns but it should respond to such [allegations]."
Steinmeier's Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif also addressed the gathering, IRNA reported.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always favored negotiations, but there are some countries which never wanted to see Iran around the negotiating table with the West," Zarif said, referring to the talks with the P5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany), which culminated in the nuclear accord.
***Need to Look Forward
He said Iran and the West should move on from their long history of political antagonism and take a forward-looking approach to help promote stability in the world.
"We should not dwell on the past because it would not be in anyone's interest. We need a stable world and it is wrong to think that our security is guaranteed by insecurity in other countries," Zarif added.
The MSC meeting was part of the MSC Core Group Meeting series. It was co-hosted with the Institute for Political and International Studies and held in cooperation with the German government.
The meeting, which was jointly chaired by German envoy Wolfgang Ischinger, also chairman of the MSC, and Zarif, hosted an exclusive group of around 60 participants to exchange views in an informal setting.
Besides Steinmeier and Zarif, other participants included Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Jabouri, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government Nechirvan Barzani, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly Elisabeth Guigou and Chairman of the German Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Norbert Rottgen, as well as governmental representatives from various Arab states, parliamentarians from European countries and NGO representatives.
Since its foundation five decades ago, the MSC has become a leading international platform for dialogue on foreign and security policy.
In addition to its annual flagship conference, the MSC regularly convenes high-profile events on particular topics and regions and publishes the Munich Security Report.
Since 2009, the MSC has linked up with local partners to host so-called Core Group Meetings in capitals around the world.
Limited to an exclusive group of no more than 60 participants, the MSC Core Group Meeting provides an intimate setting for high-level decision-makers from around the globe to discuss current security challenges in the context of their host region.
