DHAKA: Iran wants to work with other powers in the Middle East to promote peace following last month’s nuclear deal.

The country’s vice-president Masumeh Ebtekar says in an interview with the BBC.

Ebtekar stressed that Iran had a right to defend itself, but that it had no intention of dominating the region.

Her country hoped to regain the trust of neighboring states and co-operate to counter extremist groups, she added.

Iran has been accused of fomenting unrest throughout the Middle East.

It provides money and weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the militant Lebanese Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, and allegedly backs Yemen's rebel Zaidi Shia Houthi movement.

But it has also played a major role in the battle against jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) in Iraq in the past year, mobilising Shia militias and sending advisers to help the Iraqi military.

Vice-President Ebtekar spoke to Kim Ghattas during a week-long assignment in Iran - the longest time a BBC correspondent has been granted permission to report from there since June 2009, when the re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked mass protests.

BDST: 1220 HRS, AUG 18, 2015
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