On Wednesday, Mohammad Javad Zarif addressed during the conference Persian Gulf nuclear security, Saudi Arabian problems with Iran, and Syrian Crisis.
“On Persian Gulf nuclear safety, I have already written about, on New York Times, that there are areas we can cooperate; I suggested dialogue on the Persian Gulf and I believe one of the first issues that we can interact in addressing without much controversy, is how to ensure nuclear safety in the Persian Gulf; because now everybody jumps on board to build nuclear power plants, so nobody can say shot down your nuclear plant, everybody has a sahre in the pie, so we should cooperate to make sure the body of water we share and see our lives in it maintains its nuclear sfatey. I am all for it and if there is someone to solve the problem I'd be happy to send a representative, to participate with you and I think it is a very great project to maintain nuclear safety in the Persian Gulf,” Zarif told the press.
“I want to answer the question about Iran and Saudi Arabia. I believe Iran and Saudi Arabia should sit together to talk to come to an understanding that neother can exclude teh other; and neither one can benefit at the expense of the other. I think that is the case about Lebanon. Lebanese people could decide themselves and we have never withhold any of their decisions and I cannot say the same thing about any other country in the region to have done so. I believe we have necessary preconditions to understand, first of all, we cannot make short-term gains, terrorism does not give anybody short-term gain; we cannot play with the domestic politics of other countries; I truly believe we can work together; I usually say that when Iran and the US, one calling the other axis of evil and another calling the other one the Great Satan; if these two can reach accommodation on nuclear issue, how two countries, which cannot be separated because of facts of geography, and call each other as brotehrs cannot resolve issues?! I think it is a paradigm and we need a paradigm shift, and I believe we are ready in Iran and that is why we exercised a great deal of self-restrain against serious provocations, and I hope our neighbors would come to same understanding,” he said.
“On Syria, I believe at the end of the day, the only sustainable solution to Syria is Syrian’s own and Syria-led solution; now, people outside, can facilitate solution, not dictate the solution. They should certainly not even try to dictate any preconditions. What has prevented us from seriously addressing the issue or helping solve the issue are preconditions everybody has that prevents Syrian people from even sitting together to solve their issues. I thing that is the major hurdle we should tackle and the sooner we cross the hurdle, the less lives that will be lost in the country,” Mr. Zarif concluded.
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