World must stand up to US unilateralism: Iran

“The world must unite against the unilateral policies of the United States. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been subject to sanctions for the past 43 years, and has become an epitome of the ineffectiveness of sanctions imposed to impose political will on independent countries,” Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of the Regional Security Dialogue in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Friday.

Shamkhani stressed the need for strategic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow, the two all-weather allies, in the face of US unilateral policies, Press TV reported.

“It seems as if sanctions against Russia will not be lifted once the [Ukraine] war comes to an end. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a coherent system of cooperation between the sanctioned countries on a strategic and long-term perspective,” he said.

Shamkhani said some states were taking advantage of the conflict in Ukraine to implement their expansionist plans in the region and pursue their ambitious goals.

“Such attempts need to be confronted seriously,” he asserted.

Patrushev, for his part, said Western sanctions against Russia would have most likely been enforced even if the Ukraine crisis had not broken out.