H.E. Mr. Javad Kachoueian:

On weapons of mass destruction, as I mentioned, Iran is against any weapons of mass destruction. In this regard we have always supported a Middle East free of the nuclear weapons. We asked all countries to remove their weapons of mass destruction because many innocent people die when one country is using weapons of mass destruction.

The Senator mentioned the control of Shia in Iraq and the effect on some Christians in Iraq. Fortunately, Islam wants Muslims to respect the other religions. Many Christians live in Iraq. The Senator's colleague visited Iraq. The Muslim Iran has the best of relations with the Christians. They have their church, education and work. During the war between Iran and Iraq, many Christians voluntarily went to the war and were martyred. We have to respect other religions. In Iran, for each 150,000 persons there is one representative, but for the Christians and Jewish people, it is one for 25,000 persons. Through this procedure we let these minorities have representation in parliament. If we applied simple democracy for any person who obtained more votes, we would not witness any representative for the Jewish or Christian in our parliament. However, we find some solution to let them have representation in our parliament for defence of rights.

We also have very good relations with Armenia. If Iran wants strategic friends, I say that Armenia is our strategic friend.