“In 1990, when I was about to leave Iran for the mission to Germany, Ayatollah Hashemi told me that the Supreme Leader’s policy, hence our benchmark policy, was ‘West minus US’. Utmost efforts had to be taken to improve ties with Europe. In the meantime, if an opportunity came up for détente with the US, it had to be seized.”
“West Minus US: Hashemi Rafsanjani’s foreign policy in an interview with Hossein Mousavian,” The Iran Project, January 19, 2017.
