Iran President’s Japan Visit Unrelated to US Talks: Spokesman

The spokesperson for the Iranian administration has made it clear that President Hassan Rouhani’s upcoming visit to Japan will have nothing to do with Washington’s eagerness to hold talks with Tehran.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Ali Rabiee said President Rouhani’s upcoming trip to Japan will include bilateral talks and “focus on the promotion of economic ties.”

“The president’s trip to Japan will have nothing to do with the issues like the talks with the US”, he underlined.

However, Rabiee added, the Japanese friends usually have messages or initiatives, which Iran will hear and consider seriously.

“We will listen to them (Japan’s messages) according to humanitarian customs… But there is no pre-arranged plan on this issue,” he stressed.

Hailing Japan as one of the “friendly countries and a major economic partner” for Iran, the spokesperson said the “achievements of regional negotiations” could help organize more talks during the presidential visit to Tokyo.

According to Rabiee, President Rouhani will be accompanied by the Iranian minsters in charge of the economic and banking sectors, as well as by people from the trade and industrial sectors.

“President Rouhani’s participation in a summit of heads of the Islamic countries in Malaysia will be a good opportunity to hold a lot of bilateral talks in there,” the spokesperson added.

The Iranian president is going to visit Malaysia for Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 -an international platform for Muslim leaders- before traveling to Tokyo at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Abe visited Tehran in June to become the first Japanese leader to travel to Iran in more than four decades.

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