Why does US have veto rights and not India, asks Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday questioned as to why India with a population of over 1 billion does not enjoy veto rights at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

"Why India with a population of over 1 billion does not enjoy veto rights and why does the United States (US) have veto rights," Rouhani questioned during his Special Address titled 'The priorities of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran', organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in association with the Iranian Embassy here.

Rouhani also underscored that at the time of formation of the United Nations (UN), only countries that had a nuclear bomb were given the right to veto, adding that, "If it was based on fairness, it would not have been so."

The Iranian leader used the occasion to underscore the US control over his country.

"Our destiny was in the hands of US for a long period of time. They would decide for our economy, our culture. We did not even have an educational channel on TV. All military centres were in total control of the US," Rouhani said.

Saying ethics should be above national interest for a fair foreign policy of any country, the Iranian president warned that wars, aggressions, terrorism would continue in the world unless there is fairness and justice to all countries and people.

Earlier in the day, India and Iran signed nine Memorandums of Understanding (MoU)s following the delegation-level talks in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and Iranian President Rouhani.

The agreements were signed in areas like double taxation avoidance, extradition, agricultural cooperation, port lease, medicine and others.

In addition to this, four MoUs have also been signed between trade bodies.

Prime Minister Modi, in the joint press statement with President Rouhani, said that the MoUs exchanged between India and Iran are reflective of both sides' strong relations and their commitment towards further strengthening it.

Prime Minister Modi also congratulated Rouhani for his leadership and vision in developing Chabahar Port that would give India access to trade with land-locked Afghanistan.

He further said that co-operation between India and Iran would be beneficial to Afghanistan.

President of Iran reciprocated the sentiments in his statement and informed that both countries shared views on two crucial issues, namely transit and economy at the delegation-level talks held earlier in the day.