FM Zarif:

US-Israeli Plots Meant to Demonize Iran against Arabs

The US and Israel have been working hard and spending huge sums to depict Tehran as the main enemy of the Arab world in their so-called peace plans since 1991, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday, and added that some Arab states have also contributed to this smear campaign.

News ID: 448832

Date: 04 February 2020 - 09:51

RNA - Speaking to the academic staff of the Army Command and Staff School (DAFUS) this morning, Zarif said that the US announcement of the “Deal of the Century” was indeed a great opportunity for Iran, adding that according to the former ambassador of Israel in Iran who served in the country before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when the Zionist regime started its planning for the peace processes of Madrid and Oslo in 1991, it decided to replace Arabs with Iran in enemy schemes with the aims of working out peace with Arab states.

He said they started to implement these schemes within the past ten years in the Arab world by spending a lot on the plan.

With the US help and, unfortunately, the assistance of some Arab countries, he added, a tremendously evil wave was formed to introduce Iran as the main threat to the Arab countries in the region with the aim of persuading them to fight Iran instead of the Zionist regime.

The ultimate goal was to eventually make Arab countries to yield to their demands in an optimum way, he said.

The Iranian Foreign Minister further said that the absolutely obscene and shameful behaviors of some Arab countries only prove the fact that they are incapable of resisting the excessive demands of the Zionist regime.

It has now become crystal clear for the Arab countries that the substitution of "target of animosity" was a failed attempt as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) succeeded in destroying the false image the US and the Zionists had tried to make of Iran.

Now, he said, the Deal of the Century can reverse the "demonization of Iran" trend provided that "we act correctly".

He noted that the US and Israel attempts to portray an evil image of Iran and depict it as "belligerent" was foiled by Iran's nuclear deal but now their so-called “Deal of the Century”, too, can reverse their plans to demonize Iran.

Commenting on the current conditions in the region, Zarif referred to Saudi Arabia and said that when a country spends 67 billion dollars a year on purchase of weapons, a figure which is even bigger than Russia, it has to stand and take what a bullying person like the US President Donald Trump says when he scorns them by saying that without the US support they would have been forced to speak Persian in two weeks.

He went on to stress that 'no one can say such things about Iran because its power is rooted in its people. Iran brought down the most advanced US planes with domestically-developed systems."

The Foreign Minister also touched upon the elements behind the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 and said that now on the threshold of its 42nd anniversary, Iran can still progress relying on its real power tools, namely resistance and bravery.

Referring to a twitter message posted by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when American forces assassinated the IRGC’s Qods Force Commander Lieutenant General Soleimani claiming that people in Iran and Iraq were dancing in the streets, he said the number of the people who took to the streets in support of Martyr Soleimani were unbelievable, even to ourselves.

Washington had announced the plan -- a brainchild of Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner and other key pro-Israeli figures, years ago -- but had withheld the details. Trump announced the general provisions of the scheme on Tuesday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side and in the absence of whatever representative from the Palestinian sides, which have already dismissed the deal.

The US president repeated his hugely-controversial endorsement of al-Quds Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided capital,” although Palestinians have historically wanted the city’s eastern part as the capital of their future state.

He said the deal featured an economic portion that earmarks $50 billion in monetary allocations to Palestinians, Jordan, and Egypt. Palestinians have denounced this as a means of bribing them into selling their rights.

Still contentiously, Trump said that the settlers, who have been housed in illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian land, would not be moved under the deal.

The US president, meanwhile, alleged that Israel would be freezing its settlement activities for four years “while Palestinian statehood is negotiated.” Tel Aviv has never fully committed to such freezes, causing any negotiation process to break down.

On Thursday, Iranian President's Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi slammed the so-called “Deal of the Century” as a clear violation of Palestinians’ rights, and said Tehran will stand by the people of the Arab country against the American-Israeli plot.

Vaezi said that Trump-proposed so-called “Deal of the Century” is the clear violation of sovereignty of the Palestinian people, adding that the shameful and disgraceful peace plan put forward by US president is certainly doomed to failure.

He pledged that the Iranian people and government will always stand by the oppressed Palestinian nation, and added, “This disgraceful plan orchestrated by US President Trump is the clear-cut violation of sovereignty of Palestinian people.”

From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the only solution to the Palestinian issue is to rely on the will and collective wisdom of inhabitants of that land [Palestine], Vaezi highlighted.

In a Thursday statement in response to Trump’s announcement of the plan that he has dubbed “Deal of the Century”, Iranian Supreme Leader's top adviser for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati warned of the consequences of the so-called “Deal of the Century” plan, saying that it will further destabilize the region.

Velayati, who is also the secretary general of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening, condemned the so-called 'Deal of the Century,’ saying that the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening considers it necessary for all Palestinian factions to close their ranks as a “comprehensive strategy aimed at thwarting the ominous goals” of Trump’s plot.

He referred to the Palestinian cause as “the most important” issue facing the Muslim world, saying Muslims are obliged to throw “unequivocal support” behind Palestine by “using all material, spiritual and media capacities, public diplomacy, holding rallies and enlightening public opinion.”

According to Fars News Agency, Velayati further warned of the repercussions of such a plan, including destabilizing the region and violating numerous UN resolutions on the Palestine case.

“The deal of the century will lead nowhere,” but rather consolidate unity in the Muslim Ummah and muster support for the oppressed Palestinian nation from the world’s freedom- and justice-seeking people and the entire international community, he said.

Late on Tuesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry lashed out at Trump's so-called "Deal of the century" as a great betrayal to the causes of the Palestinians and all Muslim nations of the world, urging all Islamic countries to get united, regardless of differences and disagreements, to fight against the “treason of the century”.

"The Zionist regime is an occupying regime and the only solution to solve the Palestinian crisis is a referendum among all main residents of the Palestinian land and such vicious plans are doomed to failure," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

He called on all free nations and governments in the region and across the world to counter Trump's disgraceful scheme.

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