Ex-FM Zarif: All political factions in Iran furious about Russian stance on trio Iranian islands

Iran’s former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says all political groups and officials in the country are outraged with Russia for taking sides with the United Arab Emirates in its territorial claim over the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.

In a ceremony on Sunday evening to mark the 21st anniversary of the establishment of Iranian economic daily Donya-ye Eghtesad in Tehran, Zarif said Russia would not put its national interests at risk for the sake of Iran, calling on Iranian officials to have a balanced approach towards Moscow.

Iranian officials are accused of leaning too much on Russia in the foreign policy realm.

“If we gave excessive concessions to Russia and sacrificed ourselves because of our wrong viewpoints, we should not expect the same behavior from Moscow,” noted the former foreign minister.

Zarif said, “Today’s world is not the world of nobleness or chivalry. If we have this basic understanding, we will neither swoon over Russia nor hate it.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian charge d’affaires in Tehran to condemn Moscow’s support for the UAE’s sovereignty claims over the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, the Greater and the Lesser Tunbs in the sixth Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum held earlier this month in Morocco.

In the recent months this is the second time Moscow has sided with the UAE over the three Persian Gulf islands.

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