“The State Department and National Security Advisor John Bolton have said publicly that they want to apply as much pressure on the Iranian people as possible to convince them to accept their policies,” Zarif said in a recent interview with LobeLog.
“That also amounts to an open admission to attempt genocide because they want to deprive Iran,” he added.
“As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in his statement, Iran’s oil revenues have dropped to $10 billion in their estimate, not enough to get the food and medicine Iran needs to import from outside,” Zarif noted, adding that the US top diplomat is just trying, but not succeeding.
“So, in legal terminology, the State Department, the national security advisor, the president of the United States, and their accomplices are guilty of conspiracy to commit genocide,” he added.
“President Trump himself has said that he doesn’t want to start a war. I am not interpreting anything. He has made statements during and after the campaign that previous US wars in the region have been disastrous. That is why I believe that his advisers and those who have influence on him from the outside are pushing him in the direction that is conducive to greater tension and escalation and that is the reality of the situation,” Zarif noted.
“Netanyahu has said that he suggested to Trump to put the IRGC on the FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organization) list. President Trump, when he made the determination to not issue waivers, he announced that he had received assurances from Saudi Arabia and UAE that they would replace Iranian oil,” he said.
Zarif had earlier warned that the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, the prime minister of Israel, and Trump’s national security advisor are dragging the US into a war with Iran.
Zarif referred to the four officials – Mohammed bin Salman, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Benjamin Netanyahu, and John Bolton – as the “B-Team”, saying that they are “at least” trying to “exercise regime change” in Iran.
“They have all shown an interest in dragging the United States into a conflict. I do not believe that President Trump wants to do that, I believe President Trump ran on a campaign promise of not bringing the United States into another war,” he said.
“But I believe President Trump’s intention to put pressure, the policy of maximum pressure on Iran in order to bring Iran to its knees so that we would succumb to pressure, is doomed to failure,” he added.
The Iranian top diplomat made the remarks in a rare interview with Donald Trump’s favourite news channel Fox News, whose full version is to be aired on Sunday, April 28.
