TEHRAN (TCA) — As Tajikistan and Iran are experiencing political tensions after the Tajik government has restricted the activities of Iranian companies and forced some organizations related to Iran to shut down in Tajikistan, Iran’s foreign ministry said that the Islamic Republic’s issues with Tajikistan can be settled at the negotiating table, Iran’s IFP News agency reported on July 17.
It was earlier reported that the economic and cultural offices of the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan’s northern province of Sughd had been closed at the request of the Tajik government. It is believed that the move was caused by Tehran’s benevolent attitude to the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which had been banned in Tajikistan.
Regarding the misunderstandings between Tehran and Dushanbe, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said that for any reasons, there is a misunderstanding for Tajikistan about Iran and others have tried to deepen this misunderstanding.
“There is no doubt that some countries in the region are struggling to strain the regional countries’ relations with Iran. These actions are being pursued in spite of Iran’s efforts to avoid it. We believe that Tajikistan is a very close country to us and we care about its fate. We want independence and development of Tajikistan,” Qassemi added in a Farsi interview with the Tasnim News Agency.
The Iranian diplomat also expressed hope that Tajikistan would overcome these struggles by thinking more about its relations with Iran and by looking closer at the facts of Dushanbe-Tehran ties in order to prepare the grounds for further talks with the Islamic Republic.
“If that happens, Dushanbe will face a change of mind-set and will return to very good normal relations with Iran because there would not be a better and more powerful friend than Iran for Mr. Rahmon’s administration in the region,” he underlined.
