Iran has no intention of dominating region: Vice-President

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran wants to work with other powers in the Middle East to promote peace following last month's nuclear deal, Vice-President Masumeh Ebtekar said.

In an interview with the BBC, Ebtekar stressed that Iran has a right to defend itself, but that it has no intention of dominating the region. Her country hoped to regain the trust of neighboring states and co-operate to counter extremist groups, she added.

Iran has been accused of fomenting unrest throughout the Middle East. It provides money and weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the militant Lebanese Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, and allegedly backs Yemen's rebel Zaidi Shia Houthi movement.

But it has also played a major role in the battle against jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) in Iraq in the past year, mobilizing Shia militias and sending advisers to help the Iraqi military.

Ebtekar said the recent deal that saw Iran agree to limit its sensitive nuclear activities in return for the end of crippling sanctions represented a "step forward" for the whole world.

"It means a new era of working with the world in terms of different dimensions of trade, cultural exchanges," she explained. "It means that Iran is going to be a more prominent player in this part of the world."

The vice-president insisted that Iran would not stop supporting those "threatened by the policies of the Zionist regime", meaning Israel, and needed to be able to defend itself in a region where there were so many U.S. military bases.

But, she added, Iran also wanted to use its influence "to promote peace and stability".

"Our foreign minister is travelling in the region, because maintaining ties, actually restoring trust with our neighbors is an issue for us. We hope to be able to restore that trust working with different regional states to be able to stand firm against extremism, against terrorism, against Da'esh which is a terrible phenomenon," she added, using a pejorative term for IS based on the acronym of the group's former name in Arabic.

She revealed that Iran had been "trying to establish a dialogue" through diplomatic channels with regional Sunni power Saudi Arabia, which is leading an international coalition trying to drive back the Houthi rebels in Yemen and restore the country's exiled president.

"We have to resolve the war in Yemen which is devastating that nation."

Ebtekar also said that the nuclear agreement gave reformists in Iran, like President Hassan Rouhani, "leverage" over other political groups in the country.

"I think that there is this internal debate and you can hear these different voices - some criticising the agreement, and some opposing it entirely," she added. "But in general... the majority of the Iranian people view this as a successful step forward."

Hardliners in the Iranian parliament and the powerful Revolutionary Guards have criticized the nuclear agreement, but they are not expected to derail it.

The vice-president, according to the BBC, also rejected claims by critics of the nuclear deal in the U.S. Congress that Iran should not be trusted to comply with the terms.

"I think that Iran has indicated very clearly that it intends to abide to this agreement, and I think that on the contrary there is a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that Iran stands by its commitments at the international level," she said.