Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday there could be no military solution to the devastating war in Syria and said further confrontation with Saudi Arabia was in no one’s interest. He spoke to The Associated Press ahead of an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was expected to take part in a debate focusing on the Islamic Republic.
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On Sunday, Washington imposed sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile program.
“The United States was not able to stop Iran’s nuclear program through sanctions”, he said.
“We believe these sanctions are uncalled for”.
He had hoped that the ballistic sanctions would be imposed before the nuclear sanctions were lifted.
The end to sanctions is poised to provide a boon to Iran’s struggling economy, and Zarif pointed to a “tremendous” response among business leaders many of whom are also attending the WEF. They violate basic principles. He called the Iranian missile program “a legitimate defense” that is allowed under the landmark nuclear deal that was enacted last weekend.
“It shows that the United States has an addiction which has been very hard for it to overcome”, he continued, adding that it is an “addiction to pressure, addiction to coercion, addiction to sanctions”. The minister said they had no plans to meet.
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Zarif insisted his country has “always played a positive role” in those two countries. Costa applauded Secretary of State John Kerry’s diplomacy with Iran and likened it to the improvement in US-Soviet Relations in the 1980’S, but said it’s just a first step. While tensions remain between the USA and Iran, Nekumanesh says most of the Iranian people are ready to embrace America “I don’t know about the Iranian government, but the Iranian people they love the United States”, Nekumanesh said.
