Tehran has warned Washington not to make the same mistakes that the former administration of George W. Bush did when it came to Middle East peace talks.
Source: Press TV
- The top Iranian diplomat said neither the new US administration nor any other Arab state should think that they could ignore the right of Palestinians when addressing the issue of peace.
- "We warn the US government and (President Barack) Obama not to fall into the trap laid by former US politicians on the issue of Palestine," Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on the sidelines of Friday prayers in Isfahan.
- He also noted that a new Israel-Palestinian peace plan should at least grant Palestinians the minimum rights they deserve, and not take the pro-Tel Aviv approach of the former administration.
- Mottaki also pointed out that Iran's national interests were tied up with "the effort to obtain Palestinian rights."
- The Iranian foreign minister's comments came after US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East held a four-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in London to discuss a settlement freeze.
- The Wednesday meeting ended without satisfactory results as Netanyahu refused to heed international calls for a complete end to the expansion of settlements on Palestinian land.
- Furthermore, Israeli officials and Western diplomats said after the talks, that Mitchell had recognized that Netanyahu could not announce a settlement freeze in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).
- They said Washington no longer demands that Tel Aviv make a public announcement about freezing settlement building in the occupied holy city.
- This is while, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met with Netanyahu in Berlin on Thursday, identified Israel's settlement building in Palestinian territories as an urgent issue which must be addressed before peace could be established in the region.
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