TEHRAN – Having secured a pact with world powers on its nuclear program, now Tehran has more leeway to mind ties with other governments as far-flung as Africa and Latin America, a policy Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takhtravanchi has characterized as “balanced.”

“Certainly will the Foreign Ministry establish balanced relationships with countries from all continents,” said Takhtravanchi in an interview with the Jam-e Jam daily published on Saturday.

This change of tack in the Iranian foreign policy is due to a less strained connection with the West in the wake of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that Tehran and world powers thrashed out in July 2015, the diplomat said.

“As the Rouhani administration took office, a great portion of our foreign policy energy went into the nuclear issue and it took nearly two years for the negotiations to bear fruit,” said Takhtravanchi, a key nuclear negotiator himself.

But now the situation is quite different. Only over a three-month period after Implementation Day (January 16), eight presidents, five prime ministers, three parliament speakers, and 14 foreign ministers visited Tehran, according to government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht.

As a matter of fact, Tehran has already screened episodes of the adjusted policy.

In less than two months, Foreign Minister Zarif took tours of Latin America and West Africa, visiting 10 countries.

Regardless of its political significance, the diversification is economically motivated, as well.

In case of Africa, for instance, Iran can use it for extraterritorial farming given the great potential it offers.

“Although African countries may not have high trade levels, they do have great potentialities in the agriculture sector,” according to Akbar Khosronejadi, head of the African department of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Had Tehran adopted diverse foreign policy orientations, it would have been much difficult for the international community to impose sanction against the country.

AK/PA