TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the United States’ appetite for bullying other countries only grows by appeasement.

“Complacency is the oxygen that the U.S. needs to continue its bullying. U.S. appetite only grows by appeasement; by submitting to its unlawful measures against others, in the hope of avoiding its wrath. It does not work, my friends,” Zarif said at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly on Monday.

He began his speech by saying that seventy-five years ago, the United Nations was founded to restore international peace and security in the aftermath of two horrific wars. 

Zarif says the eight violent wars that the U.S. initiated or joined since 2001—under the rubric of “War on Terror”—have resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, countless broken societies and families, failed and failing states, and unprecedented extremism.“But how successful have we been?” Zarif asked. “According to a new study, since 2001—ironically, the ‘United Nations’ Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations’—37 million people have been displaced as a result of the U.S. ‘Forever Wars’.”

He said the eight violent wars that the U.S. initiated or joined since 2001—under the rubric of “War on Terror”—have resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, countless broken societies and families, failed and failing states, and unprecedented extremism.

The chief Iranian diplomat asked, “Whether our world is more—or less—secure than it was in 1945; How we can counter the unilateralism and disdain for international law by a bully that only knows wielding a big stick and speaking arrogantly; and how we can contain a power that has spent over 220 of its total 244 year-history in war: from the wars on its native population, to the war on its enslaved population—which continues with extreme brutality—and to the 39 military conflicts and nearly 120 economic wars—it deceptively calls ‘sanctions’—since 1945. Against any entity that hasn’t submitted to its whims.”

Ironically, Zarif said, it keeps losing its “Forever Wars”.  

“In fact, no one wins in a war,” he said, adding, “It’s time to change tack—saving American blood and treasure and sparing the world from further misery.”

“Our United Nations at 75 needs to recommit itself to stand up—united—against unilateralism and war,” the foreign minister concluded.

Since assuming office, U.S. President Donald Trump has adopted a foreign policy of unilateralism, dismissing other countries’ collective efforts to resolve world issues.

Trump has withdrawn from a number of key international organizations and agreements, including the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, which was signed in 2015 under his predecessor Barack Obama

Washington’s illegal sanctions against Iran, which were not lifted even after the breakout of the coronavirus, have disrupted the country’s fight against the virus, making Iran the tenth hardest-hit country in the world.

MH/PA