Europe should prevent repetition of Qur'an desecration

Nasser Kan'ani showed up at his weekly press conference on Monday holding a copy of the holy Qur'an in his hand and once again condemned the recent heinous acts of Qur'an desecration in Europe.

Dubbing the Qur'an desecration as a shameful act, Kan'ani stressed that insulting the divine religions is unacceptable and nothing can justify it.

The senior Iranian diplomat also called on the European states in which such shameful insults were committed to take decisive measures against the insulters or hand them to the Islamic countries.

On Friday, members of the Islamophobic and far-right nationalist group "Danske Patrioter (Danish Patriots)" burned a copy of the Holy Qur'an in front of Iraq's Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Earlier this week, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, stomped and kicked the Holy Qur'an, just weeks after he set fire to pages of the holy book outside a Stockholm mosque.

While in January this year, Rasmus Paludan, a far-right Danish leader, burned a copy of the Qur'an in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. The incident sparked outrage and condemnation across the Islamic world.

Pursuing the release of Iran's assets continues

Elsewhere in his remarks, Kan'ani referred to the situation of receiving Iran's frozen funds from Iraq and South Korea, saying that receiving the country's frozen assets are undeniable right of the Iranian people.

He went on to say that due to the US unilateral and cruel sanctions, some problems were raised in carrying out business and free commercial exchanges between Iran and different countries.

Some states refused to pay their debt to Iran and some other countries like Iraq couldn't do so because of banking issues, he continued.

Saying that several rounds of negotiations were held over the release of Iran's assets, the Iranian diplomat announced that Seoul has recently given positive promises in this regard and Iran is waiting for the practical action of the South Korean government. "Follow-ups continue in this regard."

According to the Iranian diplomat, the US has recently announced that it has issued the necessary permission to transfer part of Iran's assets out of Iraq's bank.

The bilateral ties between South Korea and Iran frayed in recent years due to Iranian money frozen at two commercial banks in Korea – Woori Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea – since 2018 when the Donald Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and reimposed sanctions on Iran afterward. Tehran has long called on Seoul to release the funds.

Tehran welcomes Oman, Qatar initiatives on JCPOA talks

Touching upon the negotiations on lifting the illegal sanctions against Tehran and reviving the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman cited that the Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes the initiatives of Oman and Qatar in this regard.

"Talks continue at different levels. This is an active diplomatic track; We are neither optimistic nor pessimistic," he underlined.

"We still consider diplomacy to be the best way to fulfill the rights of the Iranian nation. In this regard, we adhered to the JCPOA and used the available capacities in the framework of the sanctions-lifting negotiations," Kan'ani cited.

Kan'ani, elsewhere in his remarks, referred to the visit of the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) to Africa to take part in a meeting of the national security advisors and secretaries of the BRICS member countries. 

Saying that Iran is among the first countries applying for BRICS membership, he stated that the related procedures and negotiations are taking place in this regard and the country has to wait for the completion of the membership process of new countries in BRICS.

He also touched upon the visit of Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani to Polnad and said this visit was a favorable opportunity for holding talks over issues of mutual interest.

He further noted that Iran supports the peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Tehran considers the establishment of stability in the region as beneficial for other countries of the region and is ready to use its capacities to establish lasting peace and stability in the Caucasus, he noted.