Ambassador Fazli: Tehran will not give up its support for Serbia’s territorial integrity

The Iranian Ambassador to Belgrade, Mohammad Sadegh Fazli, said today that his goal during his mandate is to deepen the roots of the valuable friendship with Serbia, and emphasized that Tehran will not give up its support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia, adding that precisely because of the importance of respecting international law, it calls on other countries to avoid double standards, RTV reported.

In an interview with Tanjug, Fazli stressed that for Tehran, Serbia is an independent and free country with a proud people who throughout history have remained true to their principles.

“Both states pursue an independent foreign policy in achieving their national interests and are located in two different geographical regions. As founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, they share similar views on global developments, especially regarding the transition of the international order from unipolar to multipolar,” the Ambassador said, as reported by RTV.

Iran, he added, considers respect for states, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity to be a fundamental principle of international relations, and accordingly consistently supports the preservation of Serbia’s territorial integrity and opposes separatism and any violation of state sovereignty.

“This is our lasting and principled commitment and we will not abandon it,” the ambassador said when asked whether Tehran would maintain its principled stance on not recognizing the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo.

According to him, the two countries, despite being in two different geographic regions, maintain friendly ties and cooperate extremely well in the fields of politics, culture, sports, science, agriculture, industry, tourism, as well as on issues concerning families and women, and he emphasized that Iran will participate in the global Expo 2027 event.

Fazli noted that, with the aim of shaping more effective cooperation, he recently visited Novi Sad and Novi Pazar, taking into account the fact that Serbia possesses advanced and significant capacities and possibilities, just as Iran has achieved major progress in various industrial, non-industrial, and technological fields.

The Ambassador, who assumed his duties in Serbia three months ago, said he sees great potential in the possibility that part of the Iranian diaspora, which numbers around seven million people, could travel through Belgrade on their way to Western countries where they live.

Speaking about the sanctions imposed on Iran, he stressed that they are an illegal means of pressure.

“With economic, financial, and banking sanctions, basic human rights are violated – the right to development, life, health, and education. Such measures, which endanger health and lives, represent a ‘crime against humanity’,” Ambassador Fazli said, adding that the US must be held accountable for all unlawful and inhumane measures.