TEHRAN — President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday welcomed the success of the moderate-reformist bloc in parliamentary runoff elections, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Speaking at a ceremony marking workers day, Rouhani congratulated voters for ‘‘choosing the best’’ in both Friday’s runoff elections and in the original vote in February.
The bloc fell three seats short of a majority in the 290-seat Parliament but emerged with the largest parliamentary faction with 143 seats. Hard-liners secured 86 seats and independents won 61.
The moderate-reformist camp’s parliamentary successes could boost Rouhani’s own chances in presidential elections scheduled for next year.
But the president’s supporters have said the gains made by the moderates and reformists in the runoff were not enough to decisively alter the balance of power in the country. They added that political clashes between their lawmakers and conservative hard-liners are likely to increase.
In a separate development Sunday, South Korea’s president arrived in Tehran for the first summit between the two countries since they established diplomatic ties in 1962.
President Park Geun-hye’s office said she would hold talks with Rouhani on the Korean Peninsula and ways to promote bilateral ties.
IRNA said Rouhani will hold a welcoming ceremony Monday, adding that more than 230 business executives are accompanying Park.
Iran has been seeking to integrate into the global financial system and improve ties with other countries since nuclear-related sanctions were lifted in January under a landmark deal with world powers.
Energy-hungry South Korea, the world’s fifth largest importer of crude, used to be one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil, but imports plummeted as a result of sanctions.
IRNA said trade between the two countries is currently at $6.1 billion, and that Tehran would like to boost that to $17.4 billion, a level last reached in 2011, before the nuclear-related sanctions were imposed.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh says Iran has raised its oil and gas condensate exports to South Korea to 400,000 barrels per day, a fourfold increase since the nuclear deal was implemented in January.
South Korea and Iran established diplomatic ties in 1962 but their heads of states have never had bilateral talks, according to Park’s office. The summit will last three days.
Iran and North Korea, which forged diplomatic relations in 1973, have long been suspected of being close partners in weapons technologies. North Korea was slapped with tougher UN sanctions for its fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year.
Iran has denied ever seeking atomic weapons, insisting its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes like power generation and medical research.
Associated Press
