Interview with ILNA News Agency, June 19, 2024 -
He added: Mr. Sanaei is an expert in the field of Russia and was our ambassador to this country. He knows the Russian language and is one of the best in understanding Russia. Therefore, Mr. Pezzekian had created a balance in the political roundtable. In my opinion, the arguments, statement, and graph published by Mr. Zarif indicate a comprehensive foreign policy program that Mr. Pezdekian unveiled and presented the methods and topics in both an explanatory and graphical form based on the country's main frameworks, namely dignity, wisdom, and expediency.
He clarified: The main point and central implication of Mr. Pezdekian's speech is that given the country's urgent need to attract capital and the increasing speed of rival countries in their progress and development, it is not possible for us to remain in a situation of sanctions and suspension in foreign policy, and it will cause the country to erode. No matter how much we try to properly put domestic capital, productivity, and other issues on the agenda, isolation increases our costs, lowers productivity, and deprives us of many technologies, trade, exports, and... and severely limits our development possibilities.
This foreign policy expert added: Mr. Pezzekian emphasizes in his program that solving the country's problems from an economic and even social perspective, considering Iranians abroad and the desire of a large part of the people to live internationally in the current and international environment, the country's main solution to solving problems is openness in foreign policy, normalizing Iran's foreign policy path and Iran's position in the global, international, regional environment in the current situation. Considering the power displays that Iran has and the powers it has in the regional market, etc., I think this was the central sign of what Mr. Pezzekian unveiled in the field of foreign policy.
In response to the question of how successful Mr. Pezzekian and his advisory team were in responding to the questions that were asked, Karimi said: "I think they were quite successful. The questions were predictable anyway." It was clear what questions the experts wanted to ask, given the discussions that had taken place before, and of course the answers had been given many times before, but this time they were given reliably. I think the speeches of Mr. Zarif, Mr. Sanaei, and Mr. Pezzekian himself were very comprehensive and touched on various topics. Therefore, the details of the JCPOA, the issues of treaties, and international issues are the expertise of diplomats and professors of international relations. A presidential candidate can pursue one or more areas; therefore, expecting a person who has become a presidential candidate to master all social, economic, cultural, domestic policy, foreign policy, security, etc. areas and the details is nothing more than an illusion.
He added: Mr. Pezzekian fully expressed his doctrine in that statement and speech. Given that Mr. Pezzekian’s line of argument is about reviving the JCPOA, lifting sanctions, and lifting banking blockades like the FATF, Mr. Zarif and Mr. Sanaei answered the details of the JCPOA and issues of relations with the East in a complete and comprehensive manner.
In response to the question of how the foreign policy program that Pezzekian proposed differs from Zarif’s foreign policy program during the Rouhani era, Karimi said: Iran’s position is in a different position compared to 2013. Today, we are not being condemned by UN Security Council resolutions. We have more regional power, and we have left behind memories such as maximum pressure and a phenomenon like Trump. Therefore, in a new environment, the doctrine of openness in foreign policy, in which constructive interaction is one of the axes of our 20-year vision program, is currently in a more fertile position than in 2013.
He added: In 2013, a comprehensive program was designed in accordance with the requirements and it was completely successful. In the new era, however, they are making other calculations, the details of which are different, considering the new coordinates. Considering Iran's regional position and regional competitions, the issues of the JCPOA, which was not there at that time, and the unilateral sanctions that are bothering us, are on the agenda, and by reviewing the JCPOA, we are getting closer to the issue of the snapback in October 2025.
In response to the question of whether Pezdikian should be elected president and Zarif's possible presence alongside him, given the challenges Iran faces in its relations with Russia during Zarif's time, should there be a change in our relations with Russia or will the same past policy continue, Karimi said: "The past policy was not a bad policy if the same path that was designed was implemented. We must definitely have serious and good relations with Russia and China, as we do and we should not neglect them at all. Our important neighbors are in the north, we have many common areas, and of course there are areas such as energy where we are competitors; but what is important is that we can design the right foreign policy, not to increase or decrease Russia's role, but to provide diverse options in our choice basket so that at the right time, when the options become diverse, it is better to work with all these options.
He said: "But when you want to refer to a single-option basket, you will inevitably become a cheap partner of the other side, which is not desirable. So it is not Russia's fault, we must have a diverse basket of options so that we can adopt a balanced and multi-option foreign policy, taking into account strong governments everywhere in the world, emerging powers, non-state actors, companies and other issues, to use different options in low-cost cases."
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