BEIRUT: Remarks made by an adviser to Iran's president proclaiming the revival of the Iranian empire was distorted by the media, Tehran's mission in Beirut said Thursday.
“The distorted and circulated statement, which bears no association to the truth... comes in light of increased Islamophobia and an increased fear of Iran’s role in the region,” read a statement released by the embassy Thursday.
In a conference last week, Ali Younesi, President Hassan Rouhani’s adviser on Ethnic and Religious Minorities affairs, was quoted as declaring a new, Iranian empire “whose capital is Baghdad.”
The adviser, who later issued a clarification about his comments, said that his words were purposefully misconstrued.
Younesi noted that his comments suggested a historical and cultural union between regional countries and not the revival of Iran’s ancient empire.
Several Iranian officials, including Iranian Speaker Ali Larijani, rose to his defense, with the speaker saying Thursday that the comments were inaccurately translated.
The remarks sparked a backlash from Lebanese officials, and especially the Future Movement which interpreted the remarks as evidence of Iran’s insistence on meddling in the domestic affairs of regional countries in an attempt to spread its influence.
In Thursday’s statement, the embassy stressed that Tehran's foreign policy is based on a respect of international rules and highlighted that Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution was based on a rejection of the expansion of colonial powers.
“The era of empires is gone, never to return,” the statement read.
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