TEHRAN – Journalists, diplomats, senior officials and academics took them to Tehran’s busy roads early on Sunday (the second day of Iran’s week) to reach the capital: Tehran Dialogue Forum (TDF).
The venue was an international relations school, a well-known institution that trained diplomats from many countries for decades. The journalists arrived in front of other attendees, gave them time to set up cameras and check the schedule and location for discussions for the day.
Then the opening came. In a hall filled with prominent individuals, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyeda Alabha Aragchi welcomed participants, including President Masuudopezeshkian, focusing on the suffering in Gaza and highlighting important developments over the past year.
“Since October 2023, more than 60,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have lost their lives. Many women and children. Millions have been displaced, forced into siege, and exposed to starvation and starvation. He asked participants to use the TDF as an opportunity to move towards the order of their “country” regions.
“West Asia urgently needs a fundamental reassessment of self-awareness. Many times, long-standing fixations to manufactured rivals fueled in the fantasy of lasting threats have hampered meaningful cooperation, hampered the resolution of common challenges, and opened the door to destabilizing foreign interference,” he added.
Pezeshkian himself spoke on the first day of the forum, discussing indirect nuclear talks with Washington, one of Iran’s most important foreign policy processes currently underway. “We will never give up on a peaceful nuclear program,” he said. He told his American counterparts he would tell his sanctions and threats that neither sanctions nor threats would threaten Iran. “This is our right. We will continue to thrive without ever giving up our pressure tactics.”
Many panels and interviews were conducted following the opening. Among them, discussions between Iranian political institute Said Khatibzadeh and Iraqi Kurdistan region president Netilvan Barzani have been scattered in Iranian media.
Speaking in fluent Persian, Balzani emphasized the strong ties between Iraq’s Kurdistan region and Iran. He recalls his time as an Iranian university student and points out that in the 1940s the Iraqi Kurds were warmly welcomed, seeking refuge there. “We weren’t treated as guests either,” Barzani said. “We were treated like we were in our own home.”
Barzani pointed out that President Pezeshkian’s “historic” visit to the Kurdistan region of Iraq in September 2024 was entering a new era of relations. “We are always grateful to the Iranians,” Barzani said. “Iran was the first country to help us in the fight against Dash terrorists in the 2010s, but the trip deepened the relationship between Iran and the Kurdistan region more than ever.”
Another notable discussion took place between Mohammad Reza Balami, Director of South Asia Affairs at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Amir Khan Muttaki, acting minister of Afghanistan. Taliban officials have addressed the most pressing issue between Iran and Afghanistan, the Water Treaty on the Heilmand River. He said the Taliban did not want to maintain Iran’s water rights based on the principles of “human”, “neighbors” and “religious”. He also noted that Afghanistan peace is beneficial to all parties in the region.
The TDF is scheduled to continue on Monday, focusing on Palestine, Iranian programmes, the situation in Afghanistan and the non-proliferation of the region. Like UN representatives, it has convened 200 delegations from 53 countries.
Iran’s Deputy Minister Majid Tahitt-e-Ravanchi said the forum has so far created valuable space for regional countries to come together and work together to discuss important issues in the academic environment. “The Tehran Dialogue Forum has been running for several years and this year we have seen considerable participation from various countries, especially our neighbors,” he told reporters about the bystanders on the opening day of the event. “We believe these discussions will help promote better understanding among the countries in the region, which is important to make the most of our relationship.”
By Soheila Zarfam