New Delhi

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, said on Tuesday that stability in the Strait of Hormuz would improve once peace is restored in the region amid the ongoing West Asia crisis.

In an interview with ANI ahead of the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi, Gharibabadi said Iran remained committed to international law and regional security.

“The Strait of Hormuz situation will be better than before once peace is established. There will be transparency. There will be no discrepancy. We will not go beyond international law,” he said, adding that peace would bring “more safety and security than before.”

He also criticised the United States, alleging that Washington was “not doing serious diplomacy” in relation to the conflict.

Commenting on the ongoing hostilities involving Iran, Gharibabadi said Iran did not possess sophisticated military equipment but claimed that “the US and Israel are defeated only by Iranian missiles.”

The Iranian diplomat also expressed support for India’s chairship of BRICS and voiced hope that the grouping would maintain unity during the ongoing geopolitical tensions.

“We are in favour of having the BRICS Declaration. We want the BRICS hosted by India to be successful. We don’t want to give the message that BRICS is divided,” he said.

Referring to recent disagreements within BRICS over the Middle East conflict, Gharibabadi claimed that only one neighbouring country of Iran was pressing for language condemning Tehran over attacks on neighbouring states.

He denied allegations that Iran had attacked neighbouring countries and asserted that some regional states had allowed their territories to be used by the US for attacks on Iran. According to him, Tehran has documented these incidents in a 500-page submission to the United Nations.

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Last month, BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys on the Middle East and North Africa met in New Delhi, but no joint declaration was issued because of a lack of consensus among member states. Instead, a Chair’s Summary noted that members had expressed “deep concern” over the recent conflict in the Middle East and shared differing assessments of the situation.