Zarif argued that Jerusalem misread Iran’s staying power when the fighting resumed earlier this year. “The Israelis launched this aggression based on mistaken assumptions,” he said.
Former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif questioned Arab support for Palestinians and said that Iran had been unfairly vilified in the region.
Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar over the weekend, Zarif said, “We have paid a heavy price. Not a single shot has been fired in the past 45 years by any of our so-called proxies in order to advance our interests. They have been fighting for their own interests, and Iran has paid the price.”
“We are resentful of our Arab friends because we supported the Arab cause more than the Arabs did. And we get blamed. We supported Palestine more than any Arab country did.”
Zarif then discussed his own experience with US sanctions, saying that the only reason he was being targeted was as a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to the Americans.
Zarif has been the subject of sanctions since 2019, when he was the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister. His time in the role coincided with Iranian negotiations with the permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, Germany, the UK, and the US, which culminated in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in July 2015, and the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran in January 2016.
Iran’s former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) speaks during a session of the Doha Forum in the Qatari capital on December 15, 2018. (credit: AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)
According to Zarif, Iran is being blamed for regional instability that is primarily caused by Israel: “Tell me, why do we have to be blamed for problems that are caused by Israel?”
He also framed Iran as a benefit to the region, saying, “Our friends in the region have everything to gain through cooperation with Iran.”
“We have no territorial ambitions against our friends in the region,” he said, adding that Arab governments often expressed an obsessiveness regarding Iranian territory. “They’re talking about our territory – we’re not talking about theirs.”
“We do not want access to the high seas as [former Iraqi president] Saddam Hussein wanted,” Zarif said, adding that Iran is neither seeking land acquisition nor domination over its neighbors.
Hussein invaded Iran in the 1980s, soon after the Iranian Revolution. Despite aiming for a rapid victory, the Iranian resistance led to the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War.
On the sidelines of the conference, Zarif also met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Fuad Hussein. They discussed regional and international developments, as well as the latest political developments in Iraq.
Zarif: Iran seeks no aggression, warns Israel over ‘miscalculations’
Further, Zarif told the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu on Sunday that Israel’s June war with Iran stemmed from what he described as serious “miscalculations,” saying that any renewed hostilities would compel Tehran to defend itself.
Jerusalem misread Iran’s staying power when the fighting resumed earlier this year, he said. “The Israelis launched this aggression based on mistaken assumptions.”
Zarif added that Israel ultimately discovered that “the determination of the Iranian people would not allow them to achieve their goals, and that this is what brought the war to an end.”
He noted that Tehran does not seek an ongoing conflict but would not hesitate to respond if attacked. “Israel is well aware that Iran has the capability to cause significant damage. But Iran has no desire to do so except in self-defense. If they stop and set aside plans for future attacks, that would be in their own interest.”
