Jakarta. Foreign Minister Sugiono and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi recently agreed that respecting international law is a must, as the world holds out hope for an end to the Middle East conflict.

Sugiono had traveled to Mashhad to pay respect to Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was slain in US-Israel airstrikes at the start of the war. He also met Araghchi for bilateral talks. In a social media post, Sugiono revealed that the ministers had exchanged views on developments in the regional and global situation. 

“[We] emphasized the importance of resolving various conflicts through dialogue, diplomacy, respect for state sovereignty, and international law,” Sugiono wrote in the early hours of Saturday Jakarta time.

Bilateral matters were a talking point as both governments reaffirmed their commitment to pursue “more concrete cooperation across various priority sectors”. Official statistics had shown that bilateral trade had dropped by over 26% year-on-year from January to May, reflecting a slowdown after the war.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry rolled out a separate press statement, which shows Tehran’s distrust of Washington and Israel. Araghchi called on Sugiono to promote unity in the Islamic world “in the face of the Zionist regime’s expansionism, genocide, and colonial apartheid”. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. 

Araghchi brought Jakarta’s attention to the US’ violations of international law and the UN Charter.

“The Iranian foreign minister stressed the importance of serious action by all countries to uphold the rule of law and prevent the normalization of lawlessness and rogue behavior,” Tehran’s statement reads.

The US and Iran have been negotiating a peace deal via mediators.  But the exchange of fire this week has largely threatened the June 17 preliminary peace agreement, which called for an immediate end to fighting on all fronts.

People’s Consultative Assembly speaker Ahmad Muzani joined the Indonesian delegation to Mashhad. They also met Iran’s lead negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

“Indonesia and Iran are two countries that love peace. We believe that diplomacy is the only effective way towards a US-Iran peace deal," Muzani wrote on his Instagram account

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