Zarif: Israel continues its crimes with false narratives

According to Ashura News, quoted by Fars News Agency, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of the 11th and 12th governments, said this afternoon (Saturday, November 14) at the International Iranology Conference: "In Iranian and Islamic traditions, we say: Be arrogant against the arrogant, but the path to dialogue is always open against someone who is willing to talk." He added: "If we do not allow those from the false past to create a curtain against the future of opportunities and possibilities, there is a very clear path for the future of Iran, the region, and the world, and you scientists are the openers of that path." The former Foreign Minister stated: "Following the collapse of the bipolar world, the United States, with the false idea of ​​winning the Cold War, sought to establish a uniaxial global dominance based on military power. This dominance was pursued through continuous military aggressions in the 1990s from Iraq and then in Africa, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, in Europe, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq." He continued: The aim of the fight against terrorism and other American claims was not to use the collapse of the old order to create a new order based on American military power, so that economic and technological competition could not transform this order into a multipolar or post-polar order.

Zarif said: The Americans, at great military expense to themselves and the people of the world, were unable to dominate this unipolar order over the world, and in 2006, the famous report of the US House Select Committee called the Iraq Report stated that military power could not enable the United States to achieve its goals. He added: Immediately after the collapse of the bipolar world, when Iran had the opportunity to play this role, especially when Saddam's attack on Kuwait proved Iran's legitimacy in the imposed war.

The former Iranian diplomat stated: The lie that Iran was a threat to the region collapsed and Iran found a breathing space so that Iran could continue with this power born of the culture and message of the Islamic Revolution. Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad did not come into being when Iran had military power; they came into being when Iran was militarily weak against the military power of Iraq, which was supported by the entire world. He continued: “It was the motivating power of the Islamic Revolution and the message of the Revolution and the message of pride and independence that created a movement in the Islamic world that, as a growing movement resulting from new self-knowledge and self-confidence, led the world towards progress and comfort.”

Zarif clarified: “If you look at the Zionist propaganda and narrative creation, you will see that someone like Yitzhak Rabin created a new enemy in order to justify the reconciliation negotiations with the Arabs to the Israelis. The new enemy was Iran.” He added: “I am not saying this. Look at the encyclopedia Iranica compiled by Mr. Yarshater and read the article published by Trita Parsi and David Manasheri. In that article, the two of them say that in order to convince Israeli society to reconcile with the Arabs, Mr. Rabin needed to create a new enemy, and that was Iran.”

The former foreign minister stated: Europe tried to be more effective in international relations through the path of norm-setting and was very successful, and the Europeans are still far ahead of the US when it comes to creating an international consensus on the issue. He continued: Although the very wrong policy of supporting Israel’s crimes in Gaza and then Israel’s aggression against Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran put the Europeans in a position where they could not continue the role they had achieved as normative actors in the world in the 1990s and at the beginning of the new century, they decided to compete in the semantic field, that is, in the field other than material economic power, what military power?

Zarif said: Normative power is a kind of semantic power in which the Europeans were able to find an active presence. The Chinese, with careful planning based on a step-by-step movement from trade to economy to industry to innovation, were able to take this path with power and introduce themselves as an effective force on the international level. He added: "These new relationships that have emerged with the creation and emergence of various and diverse components of global power have provided an opportunity for countries like Iran, which have a strong culture and a strong message, to have a more active presence on the international stage. Of course, Iranians had gained this opportunity in the distant past, and we Iranians had conquered the world with Hafez, Ferdowsi, Saadi, Maulana Jalaluddin, and other poets, writers, and scientists." The former Foreign Minister continued: "Iran never sought to conquer the world through military force, but rather achieved this goal through language, literature, culture, and art. This goal gained a new motivational dimension with the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and before the collapse of the bipolar system, Iran was able to provide a new perspective, a new method, and a new basis at the international level, and this basis could provide a stronger relationship for Iran in the current world."

Zarif stated that the Torah's narrative of the salvation of the Jews in Babylon turned into the fight between Esther, Mordecai, and Haman, and a false historical narrative of the antagonism between Iran and the Jewish people was created. He noted: In the first stage of this process of creating enemies from Iran, attention was paid to Israel, and in the second stage to the world and the Arab world. He added: The message to the world was Iran's nuclear threat. A lie that, before Iran even had an enrichment program, Mr. Netanyahu announced in 1995 that Iran was three years away from building an atomic bomb. In 1997, he announced in the US Congress that Iran would build a nuclear weapon before the end of the 20th century. The former Foreign Minister emphasized: 25 years have passed since the end of the 20th century, and a few months ago they came and invaded our country, Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow, and said that Iran was a few weeks away, meaning that after 25 years, we were supposed to have nuclear weapons 25 years ago; it has only been a few months. He continued: What was this lie told for? Why was this attempt to threaten Iran and to securitize Iran said? This is a scientific discussion. Read the books written by the Copenhagen School professors about securitization.

Zarif stated: I think they wrote these books based on Israel's behavior, not that Israel is a case of securitization, but securitization is a justification for understanding what Israel has been doing for a lifetime. First, with the securitization of the Europeans, I am not saying that the Holocaust is a lie. The Holocaust was a crime that the Europeans committed, but what role did the poor Palestinian people play in this crime that they should pay the price for? He added: Why does Europe believe that it commits a crime and the other should pay for its crime? This has a philosophical basis. Europeans consider themselves the standard of right and wrong in morality, which is why they say that we ourselves should not pay for what we did, but that the other should pay for it.

The former foreign minister emphasized: "A regime that is the only illegal possessor of nuclear weapons in West Asia, and Iran, which is the founder of the policy of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, all of its facilities are under safeguards and the Additional Protocol, and the most inspections in the history of the International Atomic Energy Agency have been carried out in Iran, is being condemned for pursuing nuclear weapons by a regime that has itself illegally produced nuclear weapons and is even accused of assassinating and assassinating a US president because he opposed its nuclear weapons program, this regime has claimed." He continued: "In the fight for narrative and the fight for narrative, we have failed to introduce to the world the reality of these good, resilient, people-friendly, hospitable people, and people whose policy has always been companionship and interaction." Zarif added: "Iran has always been a center of interaction and exchange. Everyone who came to Iran, from Muslim Arabs to Mongols, was attracted to this culture, took on the color of this culture, and became Iranian. This shows the power and strength of this culture." Unfortunately, a false narrative of this culture has been allowed to take root in the world by criminal liars.

In response to Israel's policies in the region, our country's former foreign minister emphasized that the greatest threat to the Zionist regime is peace and tranquility. He said: Israel has always opposed any attempt to establish peace, and a clear example of this is the regime's opposition to the JCPOA nuclear agreement, because the goal of this agreement was to establish peace in the region. Zarif continued: Just before the sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the United States, Israel attacked Iran. This action shows that peace is a vital threat to Israel and they are creating false narratives in order to advance their policies. He also emphasized the need to clarify these false narratives and added: If these lies are not exposed, those whose interests are in war and conflict will continue. By creating these narratives, Israel continues its genocide and aggression against the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and other countries in the region. The former diplomat of our country said: We Iranians and you Iranologists know very well that Iran has always been a base for peaceful messages. Iran's long-standing message has been peaceful coexistence and tolerance with enemies, but Israel is trying to ignore this message with lies and distortions.