Iranian official urges EU to revise its approach to Tehran

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs Ali Ahani said Sunday that European Union should revise its approach towards Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"If the European Union manages to revise its approach towards Iran's interests, it can count on Iran's cooperation on the international scene," Ahani told Swedish ambassador to Tehran Magnus Werndstedt on Sunday.

Ahani also criticized the double-standard policy adopted by the European Union in dealing with the issue of human rights and democracy in Iran and said Europe cannot ignore the cultural and social values in other states such as in Islamic countries and impose its own model of human rights on the world, the report said.

For his part, the Swedish ambassador called for expansion of EU's mutual cooperation with Iran and expressed hope that Iran's relations with Sweden and other EU members would improve significantly.

Sweden took over EU presidency on July 1 for six months. Currently, Sweden is leading the EU's work and is responsible for moving important EU issues forward.

Source: Xinhua