Araghchi: World is moving toward multipolarity and multilateralism

Pars Today — Iran’s Foreign Minister said that, more than ever before, the world’s future is moving toward multipolarity and multilateralism, a trend that requires greater cooperation and solidarity among countries.

According to Pars Today, citing Mehr News Agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in remarks on Tuesday night, following the conclusion of the summit of the leaders of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), that Iran has numerous bilateral issues with China, Pakistan, India, Turkey, and several other countries, spanning both economic and political fields.

He added that the ongoing political process concerning the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was among the issues that all parties had questions about, and it was necessary to explain how the United States, by violating its commitments, had brought the Islamabad understanding to its current situation.

Araghchi continued: “All the countries were saying that the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was a political victory for Iran. As you saw, the UN Secretary-General also referred to this issue. Naturally, from Iran’s perspective, the solution is very simple: the United States must honor the commitments it signed and that were endorsed by its president. If they fulfill those commitments, Iran will also fulfill its own.”

The Iranian foreign minister added: “The Shanghai summit was a very valuable opportunity. We presented Iran’s positions, explained our views, and demonstrated the legitimacy of our position. Fortunately, the willingness to engage in economic cooperation with Iran remains strong, despite all the economic pressures and the pressure exerted by the United States to prevent countries from cooperating with Iran.

“Most of our discussions focused on projects that need to be implemented, the cooperation that needs to take place, and removing the obstacles to such cooperation, including issues related to the transfer of money and the movement of goods.

“The organization has now expanded beyond its core member states, with a large number of countries joining as ‘partner countries’ or ‘dialogue partners.’ A separate meeting is also held with these countries, known as the ‘Shanghai Plus’ meeting. We participated both in the main Shanghai summit and in the Shanghai Plus meeting.

“At these meetings, the heads of state expressed very strong views on countering unilateralism. They emphasized that non-Western countries should develop their own economic and political pathways in various fields, including energy, agriculture, and other sectors of the economy, and free themselves from absolute dependence on the systems, institutions, and norms established by the West.”