Rafsanjani ready to work on improving Saudi-Iranian ties

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has expressed his readiness to improve his country’s relations with Saudi Arabia. “I am ready to travel to Riyadh for this purpose,” he told the Financial Times.
Rafsanjani, one of the few Iranian political figures who has good relations with Saudi leaders, said his intention is “to reassure the Saudis that friendship with Iran benefits the region and both countries.”
Rafsanjani, who heads the Expediency Council that drafts policy, said he had received an invitation from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to perform Haj this year but could not make it.
He hinted that Iran’s leaders first needed to agree on policies of de-escalation. A future trip needed preparation and a decision within Iran on “how we are going to deal with (Saudi Arabia) in a win-win situation.”
Rafsanjani and his allies have been worried about growing tensions with Saudi Arabia, not just over the nuclear program but also over Iran’s interference in various crises in the Arab world, especially Syria.
He acknowledged that Iran “could play a better role” in Syria than it is doing now, but said the fate of Bashar Assad would ultimately be decided by Syrians. “If the Syrian people accept it, it seems to be no problem (for Assad to step down),” he said. “We have no right to interfere,” he said.
Rafsanjani raised hopes of a comprehensive nuclear deal with world powers within a year. “It was breaking the ice, the second stage will be more routine,” he said of Sunday’s Geneva deal with six Western powers.
He said Iran had no interest in developing nuclear weapons and dismissed Israeli threats of a military strike to curb its nuclear program.
“Israel is so small; no small fish can eat big fish.”
The two-time Iranian president referred to the ruinous damage to the economy wrought by sanctions and the populist policies adopted by former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Despite being barred from running in the June presidential election because “ill-wishers did not let me run,” Rafsanjani struck an alliance with reformers that helped catapult his ally Hassan Rouhani to the presidency. King Abdullah had sent a congratulatory cable to Rouhani after his election victory while commending the new president’s desire to improve relations with Saudi Arabia.