Iran’s Zarif Calls US ‘Big Threat to Int’l Peace’

“It is true that there is a real threat to our region and to international peace and security: That threat is the [Donald] Trump Administration’s sense of entitlement to destabilize the world along with rogue accomplices in our region,” Zarif wrote in a tweet on Friday.

“The US must start acting like a normal state,” he said.

The US pulled out of the nuclear deal early May, and is currently pushing the world to cut trade with Iran.

In his tweet, Zarif also listed what seen as demonstrations of the abnormal US behaviour:

“It’s not “normal” to break international agreements and commitments against the advice of even your closest allies.

It’s not “normal” to violate a UN Security Council Resolution you yourself sponsored.

It’s not “normal” to invade other countries—resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths—under false pretenses.

It’s not “normal” to use drones to assassinate women and children—to say nothing of your own citizens—in far off lands.

It’s not “normal” to create a military prison on another country’s island and seize and incarcerate hundreds of young men —sometimes for years.

It’s not “normal” to impose harsh sanctions that harm ordinary innocent people in the name of “standing with” them.

It’s not “normal” to provide arms and military assistance to an allied country to facilitate its war crime on another country, in this case KSA and Yemen.

It’s not “normal” to decide to punish the Palestinian people because they won’t surrender their land and their dignity to your ally, an Apartheid regime.

It’s not “normal” to threaten to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court and prosecute its judges if they rule against you in any case.

It’s not “normal” to abuse the Presidency of the UN Security Council to raise extraneous issues, change your plans for the Council item several times in a week, thereby confusing it with a virtual White House staff meeting while simultaneously contradicting your own permanent representative.

It’s not “normal” for anyone to have to make a list like this, one that could go on for much longer.”

 

US Needs to Respect Others

In another tweet earlier in the day, Zarif censured the US government’s non-commitment to international agreements, including the 2015 nuclear deal.

“Mutual trust isn’t a prerequisite for engagement or conflict resolution. Confidence evolves from implementation of agreements like JCPOA–unapologetically grounded in mutual mistrust. But engagement requires mutual respect, credibility & willingness to abide by one’s commitments,” Zarif tweeted.

Following the US withdrawal, the other parties to the nuclear accord are working to salvage the nuclear accord.