Former leading UK politician Norman Lamont: “No attention is paid to the insecurity of Iran”

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Continuing the surge in its rhetoric since Donald Trump’s high-profile trip to Saudi Arabia nine days ago, Iran has turned to the former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer.

State news agency IRNA headlines the comments of Norman Lamont, in an interview with Bloomberg last Monday, that Trump’s effusive praise of the kingdom — made amid the announcement of a $110 billion US arms deal to Riyadh — was a mistake and that Iran deserves a better reaction from the West.

Lamont, who over the UK Treasury from 1990 to 1993, said:

President Rouhani was quite outspoken during the election campaign not just about getting trade and investment into Iran but also about improving relations with the outside world….

I felt it was sad really that President Trump could not even acknowledge when he was in Saudi Arabia what President Rouhani had said.

Lamont, the long-time chairman of the British Iranian Chamber of Commerce, was named the UK’s trade envoy to Iran as implementation of Tehran’s nuclear deal with the 5+1 Powers was announced in January 2016.

Asked about the regional situation and the right approach to Iran, Lamont asserted:

No attention is paid to the insecurity of Iran, a country which has been invaded by its Arab neighbor in the past, and yet the West goes on pouring arms to the enemies of Iran. We’ve got to look at this with a little bit more understanding of the Iranian position.

Echoing the rhetoric of the Iranian regime, including the Supreme Leader’s denunciation of “incompetent” Saudi leaders on Saturday, Lamont said Trump is trying to unite Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Israel against Iran.

See Iran Daily, May 28: Supreme Leader Denounces “Incompetent” Saudi Leaders

Iranian relations with Riyadh, long tense, have come under further strain since the start of May when Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman said that any battles will take place within Iran’s borders. Tehran has been further unsettled by Trump’s visit to the Saudis, his first overseas stop as US President, and dozens of regional leaders attending a “Riyadh Summit” in which criticism of the Islamic Republic was prominent.

Foreign Ministry: How Can Trump Call Us “A Source of Terrorism”?

In the latest denunciation of Trump’s visit, Foreign Ministry Bahram Qassemi asked on Monday morning:

How can he possibly call Iran a source of terrorism when the country has just held a spectacular, democratic election, and acquit Saudi Arabia from this definition when the very courts in the US have attested to Saudi regime’s complicity in a number of terrorist attacks?

Qassemi continued, “The stance of certain countries against Iran is nothing new and unacceptable, and Trump’s visit to a country which is the generator of violence and terror in the region has rendered his anti-Iranian remarks null and void.”

He insisted that “some Arab and Muslim countries…told us they had not been informed of the summit’s communiqué and that they do not approve of its provisions”.

Central Bank: Iran Growth Soars Because of Oil Recovery

The Central Bank of Iran has declared 15.7% growth for the third quarter of the last Iranian year (September 22-December 20, 2016), compared to the corresponding quarter of 2015.

The surge was largely because of 74.6% growth in the oil sector, with the lifting of nuclear sanctions against Iran.

Many sanctions were removed with the implementation in January 2016 of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 Powers.

Growth was 4.6% in autumn 2016 without taking oil production into account.