Velayati speaks to Al Mayadeen Net about Iran, BRICS, and US reactions

By Siavash Fallahpor
Source: Al Mayadeen English
28 Aug 2023 22:14

The senior advisor to the Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei in international affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati, says the dollar as a global currency is facing a threat as the world becomes more multipolar.

Senior advisor to the Iranian leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei in international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati

Iran’s BRICS membership has become one of the most prominent diplomatic achievements of the year for Tehran, and in that context, Al Mayadeen correspondent Siavash Fallahpor conducted an exclusive interview with the senior advisor to the Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei in international affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati.

Can Iran's BRICS membership be considered a sign of the failure of the isolation policy attempt imposed on Iran?

The Islamic Republic of Iran has never been in isolation. In fact, Tehran continued to have contacts and interactions with various countries in various forms, especially since Iran had adopted a political policy of Eastward orientation and good neighborly relations with neighboring countries. Sayyed Khamenei himself had reportedly stressed that this policy is regarded as highly important, urging the government to address it with all seriousness.

In recent years, serious regional and international developments have been witnessed as a result of this policy.

We are witnessing the failure of the policies of the United States and its allies that sought to isolate the Islamic Republic of Iran, and these failed policies became more evident after Iran's official membership in the Shanghai Organization.

Now that Iran has joined the BRICS, the confidence of the countries of the region in the United States has been shaken, due to the fact that these states adopt different foreign policies, on the one hand, and because this membership has placed a kind of an East-oriented policy and more alliance and cooperation with the region's states, at the top of its foreign policies, on the other.

Therefore, the policy of isolation against Iran has without doubt failed, and those who attempted to isolate another country ended up rather building a fence around themselves.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been under an economic and political blockade since the beginning of the Revolution until today, however, can anyone claim that Iran is isolated because of America and its allies’ decision and that Iran has no economic or non-economic connection with the world except with itself?

While Americans and their allies have tried to use the rhetoric of isolation against Iran from the outset, they have failed. Of course, I must emphasize that Iran today has developed its official relations with the world by virtue of its status.

How can the BRICS membership end or weaken Iran's isolation project?

With regard to the importance of the BRICS, it should be noted that the group has high economic capacities and potential because its member states account for [almost] half of the world's total population.

Learn more about the bloc that countries in the Global South are applying to join.#BRICS pic.twitter.com/at0aKzzBEq
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In this context, Iran can play an important role in creating new opportunities and offering new capabilities, through developing political relations with member states and engaging with them economically. As such, the isolation declared by Americans and Western leaders against Iran had no consequences whatsoever.

What is the impact of the simultaneous membership of Iran and some other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt in the BRICS?

The presence of economic powers such as Russia, China, and India in the BRICS reaffirms that the participation and membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this group has improved Iran's political and economic position. One of the effects of this membership, as I mentioned, was to neutralize sanctions.

Iran's membership in the BRICS demonstrates the Islamic Republic's determination to establish constructive relations with the world, and it has thwarted America's long-sought isolation project and global arrogance. Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is stronger than in the past. It plays a very constructive and positive role in the region and the world through its active diplomacy in all fields.

Could this event have a positive impact on the regional relations of West Asian countries?

The point is that the formation of multi-polar powers in the world and the rise of major regional powers who have come together have been effective in weakening and ending the centralization of the dollar. As such, this is an important issue that we see in the resolve and will of countries more than ever.

Moreover, this event shows a more serious kind of cooperation and solidarity between the said countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran and will clearly strengthen the prosperous bilateral relations in the region.

How do you assess the US position on these developments?

The Americans are certainly dissatisfied with these new phenomena and Iran's positions, relations, and foreign policy with the countries of the region, thus their hostility will continue. This measure and Iran's accession to the BRICS group will continue to undermine the tricks the Americans historically resort to...

The BRICS is currently developing its internal institutions to achieve integration and increase effective economic power on the global stage. The main objective of this group is to support the progress of the development plans and programs of the member states and to strengthen their regional and international standing. The establishment of financial institutions independent of Western institutions can be considered the most important success of the BRICS countries in promoting inter-convergence and their most important advantage in the new structure of the global economy.

In your view, what measures has Washington taken to slow the pace of development of Iran's relations with the world's emerging powers? What is Iran's response to these measures?

One of the advantages of joining the BRICS, especially for Iran, is to benefit from the capabilities of BRICS New Development Bank. This bank, referred to as the Multinational Development Bank, has a payment notification system for member states, which will replace the financial system for global interbank communications, i.e. SWIFT.

Another goal of the BRICS countries is to break away from the dollar as a worldwide trading currency and to form an international currency reserve fund based on the currency of the member states. The Islamic Republic of Iran's permanent membership in the emerging global economic community, BRICS, provides an important opportunity for the development of foreign trade, communication, and solidarity with the major players in the global economy, and these opportunities should be well exploited.

Now, it has been almost 80 years since the adoption of the Bretton Woods monetary system as one of the important agreements of the world's major countries in 1944, through which the dollar was recognized as a global reserve currency, and indeed, under the signing of this agreement, a new monetary system was established in the world, in which the dollar is used as a valid international currency instead of gold.

Since that time, the United States has established itself in the global economy, but gradually over time, as the world moves from unipolar to multipolar, the dollar's strength has also diminished, and even today, with the creation of organizations such as Shanghai and BRICS, the region's powerful countries are trying to create a new economic order.