Tehran is “against” the war in Ukraine and hopes for a political solution to the conflict, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Sunday during a visit by his Polish counterpart.
“We are against the war in Ukraine, just as we are against the war in Yemen, in Afghanistan, in Syria, in Iraq, or in any other part of the world,” Amir-Abdollahian told a joint press conference in Tehran with Poland’s top diplomat Zbigniew Rau.
“We believe that the solution in Ukraine is political and that political negotiations between Russia and Ukraine must lead to an end to the war,” he added.
Rau began his visit on Saturday evening following an invitation from the Iranian authorities, the first such trip since 2014.
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Poland has provided military support to Ukraine, while Iran has refrained from condemning Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
Rau and Amir-Abdollahian will sign “a cooperation agreement on culture, education, science, sport, youth and the media”, the Iranian minister said.
Rau’s trip also has a strong symbolic aspect.
#Iran's leadership is so against the war in #Ukraine that it never condemns #Russia, heralds the war as ushering in a new era of multipolarity, there are reports of a Bavar 373 being donated to Moscow, the list goes on. https://t.co/ldohNiRGTA
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) May 8, 2022
Polish media said the minister paid a visit Sunday to a Tehran cemetery where many of his fellow countrymen who had been deported to the Soviet Union at the start of World War II and later found refuge in Iran are buried.
“Remembering the past, we cannot forget the people who suffer today due to the atrocities of war,” Rau said, according to Polish agency PAP.
“Surrounded by around 2,000 graves of soldiers and civilians, we pay homage to the Poles who were deported to labour camps in the Soviet Union and who died” after leaving the camps, PAP quoted Rau as saying.
Almost 120,000 Poles, more than half of them children, found themselves on Iranian territory.
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Their death rate was high due to poor health.
“We preserve these dramatic memories, and at the same time we are proud of the courage of the Polish soldiers who fought for a free Poland,” he added.
AFP with additional input by GVS News Desk