Iran is extremely important for the establishment of peace and security in the region and its position has been strengthened following the US invasion of Iraq, says Indian political analyst Sundeep Waslekar.Waslekar, who is the president of the Mumbai-based think-tank Strategic Foresight Group, told IRNA in an interview in Brussels that "Iran has got strengthened, I believe, in the political moves that the US has made in the last two years."

"Even though the American purpose was to weaken Iran, but exactly the opposite had happened."

The Strategic Foresight Group's primary activity is scenario planning and helping leaders of various countries look into the future and build alternative scenarios.

"In the broader context, Iran has a positive role to play. I see Iran as an emerging power. I see it as an important power," said Waslekar, who was in Brussels to participate in an international peace conference.

The Third International Roundtable on Constructing Peace, Deconstructing Terror was held at the European Parliament, Brussels, on Monday with the participation of politicians, scholars and analysts from Europe and the Middle East.

The event was co-hosted by Strategic Foresight Group and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, in cooperation with the German Friedrich Naumann Stiftung.

But Waslekar also crtiicized Iran for "a certain degree of lack of responsibility."

"Some of the statements that have come out from Iranian officials are not helping peace and stability," he said.

India, noted Waslekar, has strengthened its relationship with Iran in the course of the last few years not in connection with history and civilization but with modern realities.

India has made a major investment in Iran's Chabahar Port which has been very useful for India as with its cooperation with Iran in its reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.

"It is only because of this that India has been able to play a certain positive role in Afghanistan. It will also help India to obtain access to Central Asian countries."

Waslekar said the "Iran-India relationship is lot more positive than it is generally understood."

He said that after the US-invasion of Iraq in 2003 his think-tank had come out with a scenario report on what would be the outcome of the war.

"It so happened that many of the projections that we made that time proved to be right like the increase in oil price, rise in terrorism," he said.

The think-tank was approached by several western and Arab countries which led to the holding of the first conference on Arab-Western relations in New Delhi in 2004. A second conference was held in Brussels in 2005.

Monday's conference, which was closed to the press, discussed topics like Arab Islamic renaissance, western Islamic dialogue and engagement initiatives.

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