28 Mar 2024
Saturday 24 September 2016 - 17:12
Story Code : 232364

Iran not interested in any provocation with US: Zarif

Iran not interested in any provocation with US: Zarif


Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Islamic Republic is not interested in any provocation whatsoever with the United States despite having nearly four decades of difficulty with the country.

The Iranian minister made the remarks in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, aNew York-based think tank, on Friday, in response to a quote,raised bythe interviewer,from US Republican presidential nominee Donald trump,who had said he would shoot the Iranian ships out ofthe Persian Gulf.
Our soldiers and our sailors are a few miles away from our coasts. Yours, Americans, are several thousand miles away. And then they get upset when our boats tell them not to get into our [territorial] waters, that you are approaching Iranian borders, that you encroach upon our sovereignty, Zarif said, adding that the Persian Gulf is Irans lifeline, through which it sells almost all of the countrys oil.
How would you think if an Iranian warship were to come to the Gulf of Mexico...and [tellthe US forces],Why are you getting close to me? Im sailing in international waters., he said, adding that likewise, in the Persian Gulf, You are close to us. We are not getting close to you.

Zarif also said that a greater majority of Iranians distrust the US todaythan they didbefore the nuclear deal, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was signed between Tehran and the P5+1 countries on July 2015.

Before we had this deal, a majority of Iranians believed that resolving difficulties with the United States would be effective. Now the majority of Iranians believe otherwise, and that should send a very strong signal, Zarif said, adding that Washington's failure to fulfill itsobligations under thenuclear dealhas deepened the Iranians' distrust in the US.

He noted that the fear of facing punitive measures from the US has discouraged major European banks from dealing with Iran months after the implementation of the JCPOA.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Syrian government soldiers walk in the damaged neighborhood in the government-held side of Aleppo on September 16, 2016. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]

Political solutionsole way out of Syriacrisis

Irans foreign minister also renewed Tehrans call for a political solution to the crisis in Syria.

There is no military solution to [the crisis in]Syria. There has to be a comprehensive, unconditionalceasefire to pave the way for the political settlement of the war,Zarif said.

Reiterating Irans support for the Syrian government in its fight againstTakfiriterrorists,Zarif highlighted the need for delineating the positions of terrorist groups like Daesh and Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch formerly known as al-Nusra Front, which have beenexcluded from the ceasefires across Syria.

The Iranian foreign minister also criticized some regional players for focusing on Syrian President Bashar al-Assads fate rather than the future of Syria. He added thatunlike Saudi Arabia,Tehran has always been ready to cooperate with all regional players on the Syrian crisis, and itdoes not believe in a solution based on "exclusions".



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] This file photo posted on the Twitter page of the Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch formerly known as al-Nusra Front terrorist group, on April 1, 2016, shows the militants marching in Aleppo province, Syria. (Photo by AP)[/caption]

'Manufactured enemy'

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian foreign minister touched upon the role Riyadh has played during the past decades in creating and funding terror groups such as Taliban and al-Qaida,andIraq's slain dictatorSaddam Hussein, who received unbelievable sums of money from Saudi Arabia.

Now the Saudis "are funding Daesh and al-Nusra. They will turn against them. And once they turn against them, it will be a disaster, Zarif further said.
"Our problem today is the fact that they (theSaudis) are funding extremism in the hope that they can divert the attention from the inability of the state system in their country and the rest of the region toaddressthe difficulties,anxieties and aspirations of the Arab youth into a perceived and manufactured enemy, being it the Shias or the Iranians," theIranianforeign minister added.
But they know that at the end of the day theyare the real target...Nobody will gain anything from supporting extremism -an animal, a monster, a Frankenstein that will bite the hands that feeds it, he added.

Zarif describedWahhabism -the radical Saudi ideology thatfuels the ideologicalengine of terror organizations like the Daesh and al-Nusra Front - as"a political school of thought" and the "literature of hate that has to be stopped."

By Press TV

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