Foreign minister: US, West interfere in Iran’s affairs to destabilize country

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has strongly slammed the United States and its Western allies for their interventionist stances and remarks on the recent developments in the country, saying they seek to destabilize Iran.

According to Press TV, Amir-Abdollahian made the remark while addressing the third Tehran Dialogue Forum, dubbed TDF 2022, in the Iranian capital on Monday, which was attended by scores of scholars from 36 countries at the Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies.

“Irresponsible and arbitrary positions and interventions of the United States and some [other] Western countries ... which were aimed at inciting riots in Iran through political means as well as cognitive, media and hybrid forms of warfare represented their maximum effort to destabilize the country,” Iran’s top diplomat said.

He added that Western countries’ intervention in Iran’s affairs comes despite the fact that they themselves are embroiled in all kinds of domestic protests and their police forces use the most violent methods in responding to those protests.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has warned meddlesome parties against any intervention in its domestic affairs and is carefully observing such illegitimate interventions and will give a strong response to them,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

Iran’s foreign minister added, “Those countries that host terrorists or encourage economic and media terrorism and foment violence must be aware that terrorism and insecurity are global phenomenons. You cannot live in a glass house and throw stones without being hurt.”

Emphasizing that the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on people’s will, Amir-Abdollahian said the peaceful demands of people and internal developments of the country should not be exploited by others as a means of settling political scores.

US must stop its hypocritical approach, return to JCPOA

Elsewhere in his remarks, the top Iranian diplomat slammed the US hypocrisy with regard to the negotiations held to revive the 2015 nuclear accord -- formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- which was abandoned by former US President Donald Trump in 2018.

He said, “On the one hand, the United States talks about the nuclear negotiations and [the need for] taking the final steps to achieve an agreement [on reviving the deal], while on the other hand, it supports insecurity and instability in Iran.”

“This hypocritical policy must end. If this is done and the United States takes realistic and practical steps to reach an agreement and return to its obligations as per the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic of Iran will also be ready to take the final steps toward an agreement for the removal of sanctions [imposed on the country] and return of all parties to their obligations,” he added.

Ukraine conflict can be settled through dialogue

Amir-Abdollahian also pointed to Iran's stance on the ongoing war in Ukraine, which he said has not changed since the outbreak of the crisis.

"Our principled policy has been based on rejection of … the use of force and emphasis on the settlement of the conflict through political channels. Since the outbreak of this crisis, we have adopted a position of active neutrality and emphasized that the legitimate security concerns of the two sides [to the conflict] must be taken into account," the Iranian foreign minister said.

He once again rejected the baseless allegations that Iran has supplied one of the parties involved in the Ukraine war with weapons and drones, stressing that the propaganda regarding the use of Iranian drones in the war has no objective but to cover up the West's bids to fan the flames of war and violence in Ukraine.

Such claims are made against Iran under the circumstances that billions of dollars of different types of weapons from Western countries have been sent to Ukraine to prolong the war, the top Iranian diplomat pointed out.

Both Iran and Russia have repeatedly denied claims that Tehran has provided Moscow with drones to be used in the Ukraine war.

US uses terrorist groups to perpetuate its presence in Afghanistan

The Iranian minister further said 20 years of foreign military presence by occupiers in Afghanistan has failed to bring security and welfare to the people of the country who are in completely unsuitable and worrisome conditions.

He added, "The US has left Afghanistan but it is seeking to perpetuate its presence in the country and create challenges for the regional countries through its instrumental use of terrorist groups."

ME