Riyadh 0
26 November 2019

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif remarked that “we believe that through a strong neighbourhood, we will be able to achieve our individual goals much easier and much better than individually… Iran is interested in maintaining the same type of relations that it has with its ECO (Economic Cooperation Organisation) partners and extending it to our partners in the Persian Gulf region”. “All of us”, he added, “will benefit from cooperation and all of us will suffer from competition, from conflict. from instability and from insecurity”. Discussing Iran’s Hormuz Peace Endeavour (HOPE) proposal, Zarif emphasised that “you cannot be secure if your neighbours are not. That is why we extended the hand of friendship that we have extended to our ECO partners to our partners in the Persian Gulf, hoping that the same type of arrangement that would lead to greater confidence in cooperation could also evolve through cooperation, through joint effort, and through joint thinking also in the Persian Gulf region”.

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