Speaking at a Persian Gulf studies conference in Tehran on Thursday, the former foreign minister, who currently serves as a senior advisor to the Iranian Leader, outlined Iran’s vision for regional cooperation.
Kharrazi traced tensions to the Pahlavi era’s “policeman of the Persian Gulf” policy and post-Revolution fears of Islamic revivalism.
He noted how these factors contributed to the Iran-Iraq war, where Saddam Hussein “positioned himself as an Arab representative” with foreign backing.
The diplomat highlighted late Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s 1995 meeting with Saudi King Abdullah in Islamabad as a turning point, paving the way for later OIC summits.
During President Mohammad Khatami’s tenure, Iran-Saudi oil price coordination demonstrated successful cooperation, boosting crude prices from $8 to economically viable levels, he noted.
With Israel’s “Nile-to-Euphrates ambitions” intensifying, Kharrazi stressed military deterrence now enables Iran to employ “soft power diplomacy”
He proposed “Hormuz Initiative” and “Friendship Plan” could jumpstart Persian Gulf dialogues, adding the upcoming Tehran Dialogue Forum and Iranian-Arab conferences will test regional willingness.
Kharrazi advocated blending “Islamic identity, Iranian civilization, and Shia mysticism” to reshape Iran’s global image, and urged think tanks to develop data-driven analyses ahead of multilateral meetings.
