Former ForMin Melescanu on Iran-USA conflict: We need a better standpoint at EU level and Romania should contribute

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu on Wednesday stated that the European Union needs to adopt "a common standpoint, and Romania needs to bring its own contribution," in what concerns the Iran-USA conflict.

The Senate President spoke in the context in which the Iraqi military command announced on Wednesday that 22 Iranian missiles fell on two military bases on the Iraqi territory "without making any victims among the Iraqi troops," as retaliation from Iran against the US interests, after the US killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Friday, according to AFP.

"It was to be expected that Iran will have a reaction, which was publicly announced by this country, in fact, and it is very hard to tell how things will unfold further for the Iran and the US both, while we are all waiting for President Trump's statement," Melescanu told Antena 3 private television broadcaster.

He added that "for the moment, this conflict is carried out on the Iraqi territory only, and not on the Iranian territory, which means that it doesn't affect either the Iranian or the US territories.

"I believe that we need to discuss this at the EU level and come up with a common standpoint, in which Romania should also have a contribution. In my view, I believe that it will be necessary to adopt a wise standpoint, in the context in which the member states will continue to have relations with Iran, considering also the decision of the United States to withdraw from the Nuclear Agreement," added Melescanu.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs appreciated that, at this point, our country is not affected by the conflict.

"I don't believe that Romania is exposed, for now, except from the troops that we already have in Iraq, in the case of which we have already taken security measures. The most important thing right now is to understand that we need opinions and ideas to prevent this conflict from escalating and spreading. We will see how things will evolve further," Melescanu pointed out.