Zarif Denies Saudi Oil Facilities Were Hit by Iranian-Made Missiles

“Unfortunately, the UN Secretariat showed that it is being influenced by US threats,” said Mohammad Javad Zarif in a live Instagram interview on Saturday.

“The region is in a critical situation. The logical move would be for regional countries to hold talks about the future rather than being a hostage to the past,” the top diplomat said.

“The first year when I became [foreign] minister, I asked late Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal whether he wanted us to exchange grievances about the past, or whether he wanted to air his grievances against us,” said Zarif.

“I told him ‘we have more grievances than you, but we can talk about the future. We a lot to say to each other about the future,’” said the Iranian foreign minister.

Zarif said Yemen didn’t use to be gripped by war at that time, and that many more things could have been done.

“I think if regional countries come to realize that the Americans will not stand by them and only want to milk them, then it would be possible to reach a solution and agreement in the region. This is our proposal to the regional countries, too,” he said.

He said the US, like Israel, seeks to create a security situation in Iran.

“The US is not sympathetic toward Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others, either,” he said.

Asked whether Donald Trump has any chances of winning a second term as US president in the upcoming election, Zarif said, “The biggest mistake in humanities is to make predictions, especially with regards to political issues, especially under changing and dangerous circumstances.”

“But I want to predict that Trump’s chances of winning is more than 50%,” he said.
However, Zarif noted that Trump’s chances of emerging victorious in the forthcoming election have seriously decreased compared to four or five months ago.

Zarif said Trump has 35-percent voting base in the US society which has not changed yet, and as long as this base remains constant, there is still a chance of him being reelected.

“Of course, Trump has made many mistakes. In the foreign policy arena, he has not had a single case of success,” the top Iranian diplomat said.

“As for domestic policy, one should look at his handling of the coronavirus crisis, new unrest, and migrants as well as minorities. All of these are serious points of weakness in Trump,” Zarif added.

“However, if you, as a realistic person, look at the circumstances and predict Trump’s situation this autumn, you’ll see his situation has not yet changed that much,” he said.