DUSHANBE, August 5, 2013, Asia-Plus – Tajik President Emomali Rahmon attended the swearing-in ceremony of new Iranian President Hassan Rohani that took place in Tehran on August 4.
According to Iranian media sources, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said on July 23 that leaders and officials from across the world, except for the United States and Israel, have been invited to Rohani’s swearing-in ceremony scheduled for August 4, one day after his endorsement ceremony by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Press TV reports that delegations from over 50 countries attended Rohani’s inauguration ceremony. Among the foreign dignitaries present were 10 presidents, six vice-presidents, two prime ministers, eight parliament speakers as well as several prominent former officials.
This is the first time that heads of state and leaders from abroad have been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s president. Previous presidential inaugurations were attended by ambassadors.
Press TV quoted political expert Ghodrat Ali Heshmatian as saying that since the beginning of the revolution, “none of the swearing-ins has been as important as [the one] this time. In none of the previous ceremonies did we see so many foreign dignitaries and foreign officials. And this is because of Mr. Rohani”s slogans of improving ties with the world based on mutual respect.”
Former European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad also took part in the ceremony as special guests.
Jan Kubis the Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), also participated in the event as the representative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
During his swearing-in ceremony, the new Iranian president called on Western governments to “speak to Iran not with the language of sanctions, but with the language of respect.”
The new chief executive noted that the only way for interaction with Iran is “dialog on equal footing, mutual confidence-building, mutual respect, and reduction of hostilities,” adding that his policy would be based on “reducing tensions, mutual confidence-building, and constructive interaction” with the world.
At the end of the ceremony, Rohani also unveiled the proposed list of nominees for his cabinet, according to Press TV.
Rohani won Iran’s June 14 presidential election with 50.7 percent of a total of over 36 million ballots. The voter turnout in the election was 72.7 percent.
