Zarif made the remarks in an address to a meeting on opportunities in Iran after the nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), went into effect on January 16.
“One of the achievements of the nuclear negotiations [between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries] was that we succeeded in putting an end to the Iranophobia project,” Zarif said on Saturday.
Before the conclusion of the nuclear agreement, he added, a “false” image of Iran was depicted which introduced the Islamic Republic as a threat to international peace and security and based on which, every move against Iran could be justified, he said.
The Iranian minister said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put a lot of pressure on Western and European countries, and Saudi rulers made every efforts to prevent the realization of the JCPOA because they did not want to see their long-term subversive investments in Iran disappear and also sought to portray a harsh and horrible image from Iran.
He emphasized that the nuclear negotiations opened a new phase in Iran’s relations and finally led to the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.
After the JCPOA went into effect, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the UN Security Council and the US were lifted. Iran in return has put some limitations on its nuclear activities.
The JCPOA was signed on July 14, 2015 following two and a half years of intensive talks between Iran and the P5+1 – the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.
