Jordan says never regards Iran as threat, welcomes bilateral ties

Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh said his country has never regarded Iran as a threat to its national security and that it welcomes bilateral relations with Tehran.

Amman is open to “healthy relations” with the Islamic Republic, Khasawneh said in an interview with BBC Arabic television news network. 

“We have never looked at Iran as a source of threats to our national security,” he said during the interview, which was broadcast on Sunday evening.

Late last month, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Arab countries look for the promotion of diplomatic relations with Iran, roundly dismissing the existence of any talks on the formation of a NATO-like anti-Iran military alliance in the Middle East with the participation of Israel.

“There is no such proposal,” Safadi said in an interview with the Arabic-language Al Jazeera television news network on June 28.

Safadi underscored that the issue was not on the agenda of US President Joe Biden’s Middle East trip, which would take him to occupied Palestine and Saudi Arabia, Press TV wrote.

The top Jordanian diplomat also rejected Western and Israeli media reports that Arab states and Tel Aviv were planning to form a military alliance, with the help of the United States, to confront Iran.

Last week, sources familiar with the matter revealed that the US and Israel are seeking to lay the groundwork for the so-called security alliance with some regional Arab states to fight off what they call the threat from Iran.

Discussions on the plan are still at an early stage and have already met resistance from several Arab countries that refuse to do business with Israel, Reuters on Thursday quoted four sources as saying.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Saturday that an increased presence of the United States in the Middle East will only foment insecurity in the region and help further spread terrorist activities.

“Any measure to pave the way for the increased presence and role of the United States in regional security mechanism will have no other outcome but insecurity, instability, and spread of terrorism across the region,” the Iranian spokesman said.

Source: Iran Daily