Mr. Zarif was speaking to the press on the sidelines of cabinet meeting Wednesday. His tone was optimistic on issues of foreign policy and modest achievements in terms of those openings outcome of the JCPOA implementation, which included coming of 84 foreign trade and political delegations, his own 57 foreign visits, deals with Airbus and B00eing to secure delivery of planes to the country (only Airbus has ever delivered 2 planes yet).
“With espousal of multilateralism in foreign policy, the neighbors have received special priority; on JCPOA, we predicted US violations of its commitment and thus were diplomatically dynamic to attain our objectives in the international community,” he told the press, “they have been persuaded, during 9 months of hectic diplomatic efforts, that they should allow plane purchase by Iran; roughly in the same period of time, we secured international insurance companies to cover our trade; however, regional diplomacy was a heavy drag on our resources, especially in Syrian crisis, where finally, after 4 years, they concluded that they should recognize Iran’s place and contribution to the peace process.”
Zarif however admitted that the Foreign Ministry had been short of scoring success in achieving détente with its neighbors especially Arab states of the Persian Gulf; “the diplomatic machinery worked good and smooth; however, much of the failure, which I believe it is, should be ascribed to intransigence in part of Saudi Arabia in continuing its line of policy which sought to abort all Iran’s attempt in the Middle East and to reverse what Iran had achieved in diplomatic circles,” he said.
“Even as such, President Rouhani visited Kuwait and Oman, and I visited Qatar; the success has however been modest even if I am not satisfied with the situation.”
Zarif then turned to a different domestic issue of Presidential Elections; “the public as well as the elite should see the elections with open eyes; a high turnout in elections will contribute to the country’s national security,” he said. On turkey, Foreign Ministry believed Iran had been exercising constraint as part of the wise diplomacy with the neighbors, on which much value was placed by the system; “our colleagues in Turkey should see the situation in more serious light; we have extensive trade and cultural ties with the country and we hope to see all issues resolved for the better future,” he concluded.
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