Pretoria - South Africa has condemned the imposition of sanctions against Iran, saying the sanctions are irrational and illegal.
“South Africa has always spoken out against the language of threats and coercion, including the unilateral sanctions that have been unfairly and unjustly imposed to single out the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“These sanctions are not only sanctions on Iran but sanctions on all of us,” International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said on Monday.
She was speaking at the 12th meeting of the South Africa-Iran joint commission in Tehran.
Iran is the largest supplier of crude oil producer however, South Africa was obliged to halt its imports of Iranian oil as of June 2012 as a result of sanctions.
The minister said South Africa was not waiting for the sanctions to be lifted in order to do other business with Iran.
“Unlike others, South Africa is not waiting for sanctions to be lifted to do business with Iran. South Africa has been in Iran even in the toughest times. Trade has already grown by more than 50% over the past year,” she said.
She hoped that once the sanctions have been lifted - the trade relations between the two countries will rise to greater heights in various areas such as education, health, investment, mining, transport, agriculture, science and technology, and energy.
The Minister, who meet with her counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, used the opportunity to also express her hopes for the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 to be concluded as soon as possible.
This so that trade can be fully normalised and Iran fully integrated into the international community.
“The South African government gives its full encouragement and support to the negotiators as they work to conclude a comprehensive agreement. We hope that the final outcome will be fair and just to the people of Iran, and that the sanctions will be lifted without delay.”
South Africa’s position, she said, was that Iran has an inalienable right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in line with the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
As a country that has the rare distinction of having acquired nuclear weapons and then voluntarily dismantling them, the Minister said South Africa recognises in Iran a state that shares conviction that nuclear weapons are immoral, futile, and counterproductive, and that has taken the strategic decision not to pursue the nuclear bomb, despite living nearby to nuclear-armed states.
“Like Iran, South Africa firmly believes that the Middle East should be made a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, as we have done in Africa with the Pelindaba Treaty. “
Minister Nkoana-Mashabane went on to hail Iran a friend of South Africa which occupies a special place for the role it played in its liberation struggle.
“The Islamic Republic stood by us during our darkest days, cutting ties with the apartheid regime. Your revolution was our revolution. You showed us that emancipation was possible, whatever the odds.
“Democratic South Africa and Iran have had bilateral relations for 21 years; and over that period we have not allowed outside pressures to interfere with our close friendship. The pace of high level visits has increased over the last few years.”
Minister Nkoana-Mashabane will hold a second day of meetings with her counterpart today. - SAnews.gov.za
