Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif commented on the remarks made by President Barack Obama about the Vienna deal while addressing a academic gathering.
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President said there that “The deal before us doesn’t bet on Iran changing, it doesn’t require trust, it verifies and requires Iran to forsake a nuclear weapon.” Obama also said: “I am stating a fact. . . . The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some form of war, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon.”
In response to the speech by President Obama at American University, Foreign Minister Zarif made the following points:
1. The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought nuclear weapons nor will it ever seek them in the future. Hence, boasting that different paths to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons have been blocked through the recent agreement in Vienna amounts only to claiming victory for what was already achieved, and is thus merely an attempt to respond to internal critics and the Zionist regime.
2. Developments over the past several years clearly illustrate that what has led to insecurity and the spread of extremism and terrorism in our region has in fact been the ill-advised policies and behavior of US administrations and some of their regional allies — especially the Zionist regime — which have brought nothing but destruction, war and extremism to the people of the region and the world. US officials have on numerous occasions admitted this reality, but they are still trying to escape the reality by blaming others.
3. Peace, security and stability in the surrounding environment has always been the most important priority of Iranian foreign policy, which has been based on a sober appreciation of the realities of this region. Unlike the double standards, inconsistencies and dangerous contradictions in the policies of some influential countries, the Iranian approach to the region has been coherent and consistent, and has always been premised on peace and friendship with all neighbors, respect for the wishes of the people and confronting common threats — including foreign aggression, extremism, terrorism and sectarianism. The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to support its regional friends and allies in combatting these common threats, and it has repeatedly announced that it is ready to cooperate with other neighbors on the basis of mutual respect against these challenges and for the promotion of regional and international stability.
4. With self-confidence and rationality, Iran has shown in the recent nuclear talks that even fabricated crises can be resolved through interaction and dialogue and on the basis of mutual respect. Therefore, the shaky foundations of the dangerous and discredited campaign of Iranophobia have already collapsed, and efforts to resuscitate it in the world and region will not succeed. It can only bring huge profits for the manufacturers of armaments, leading to the waste of badly needed limited resources of the region and the world for a relentless acquisition of extravagant weapon-systems instead of fighting poverty, ignorance and injustice.
Maintaining the outdated Iranophobic discourse, in an attempt to appease warmongers, will only result in the imposition of unnecessary costs on the peoples of the US, the region and the entire world.
5. As we have repeatedly advised US officials, we once again remind them that it has been nearly a century since the civilized world has consistently rejected the use or threat of use of force as an instrument of foreign policy, not merely because it was illegal and unethical, but more so because force had lost its utility. Threat or use force is a flagrant violation of the peremptory norms of international law and entails international responsibility. Moreover, it has not brought, nor will it ever bring, any benefit other than wasting resources and damaging the reputation of the United States.
The American people, and the human race at large, have the right to ask what has the United States gained from its wars over the past 50 years, other than imposing huge financial, human and reputation losses on the American people and insecurity and instability on the people of the world. The time is long overdue to abandon this dangerous and harmful habit, which is outdated now by centuries.
6. The historical collective memory of the Iranian people continues to be very much concerned by the US support for the ‘53 coup, the imposed war and Saddam’s use of chemical weapons, as well as by the insults of various American officials against the Iranian nation, baseless accusations and blind and inhuman sanctions against this nation coupled with useless American persistence in the discourse of threat and coercion. Otherwise our people have no problem with the American nation.
Instead of repeating tired clichés, US officials should consider the fact that denunciation of US policies are not limited to the Iranian people. The US needs to correct its policies such as supporting the Zionist regime’s crimes against the Palestinian nation, the most recent example of which was the burning to death of a Palestinian infant. Denouncing such policies by the Iranian nation and the Muslim world is only natural. This attitude is not exclusive to the people of this region and it should not be used as a pretext for baseless accusations such as anti-Semitism or anti-American tendencies. If the US government wants a change in the views and the slogans of the Iranian nation and the world, it would be well-advised to contemplate changing its policies and practices as they affect the world beyond its seas.
7. Previous US governments have wasted important opportunities because of misperceptions and illusions. The U.S. today would be well-advised to use this historic opportunity for winning back the valuable trust of the Iranian nation, destroyed by decades of hostility and misguided policies. The people of Iran, through their massive turnout in recent elections, showed that efforts to create a rift among the people or between them and their government have utterly failed.
The Iranian people are united, vigilant, resistant and noble-minded. They bravely stand up against threats, impositions and sanctions. But they magnanimously respond to humility and respect. The United States has tested for decades the wrong policy of pressure and imposition against the Iranian people to no avail. Now there is a unique opportunity to rectify the past and test a different approach, which – in spite of all tribulations — has just produced an unprecedented victory for peace within only two years.
