President calls on EU to isolate war-mongers                      
                                                                      
Tehran, June 11, IRNA -- President Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday called 
on the European Union to isolate the war-mongers of the world.        
    In a meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of   
Foreign Affairs Louis Michel, he said Europe should put its weight    
behind efforts to put down the war-mongers in the world.              
    "The most dangerous threat to the world is those who make every   
endeavor to drive the world toward war and violence in the name of the
campaign against terrorism," President Khatami said.                  
    I am sorry that the war mongers use the term of "crusade" to      
describe their attempt to impose war on the world, he said.           
    He also lamented that the democratic nations are being pressured  
in the name of religion by war-mongering policies.                    
    Khatami further alluded to Iranian national resolve to develop    
democracy based on religious, cultural and social values and said that
the national determination to that effect also faces domestic and     
foreign-induced hurdles.                                              
    He said that religion is sometime used by misguided human beings  
to intensify their violent methods.                                   
    Today the Zionist regime, in the name of the Jewish religion      
perpetrated heinous atrocities against the Palestinian people, he     
said.                                                                 
    Khatami said that the Middle East is a critical region that can   
pose a threat to world peace, adding, "peace would not be established 
unless the rights of Palestinians both inside and outside the occupied
territories are restored."                                            
    He further welcomed closer diplomatic, economic and cultural ties 
with EU and with Belgium in particular based on mutual respect.       
    For his part, Michel said Belgium welcomes strengthening of ties  
between the two countries based on mutual respect.                    
    He alluded to EU's position in the aftermath of the events of     
September 11 and said that EU has always distinguished between        
policies that purport to fight terrorism and others that aim to sow   
discord between the Muslims and non-Muslims or wage crusade.          
    EU believes that those who think they can make peace by waging war
are in mistake, Michel underlined.                                    
    He also handed an invitation from Belgian Prime Minister Guy      
Vehoftstadt to President Khatami to visit Brussels.                   
    Welcoming the invitation, Khatami said that he will visit Belgium 
at an opportune time.                                                 
    Michel arrived in Tehran Tuesday morning for a two-day visit to   
discuss trade between Iran and the European Union.                    
    Belgium attaches high importance to Iran in its foreign policy    
and is determined to expand its ties with the Islamic Republic in all 
economic, political, regional and international fields, Michel said.  
    Michel will leave Tehran on Thursday for Georgia.                 
NB/SS/AR                                                              
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