Zarif: US 'obsession' with Iran is backfiring everywhere
In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed several topics from this week's UN General Assembly session.
NEW YORK - The Donald Trump administration's “obsession” with Iran is backfiring throughout the region, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview Friday evening.
Zarif's comments come on the tail end of a UN General Assembly meeting that saw the US take heat from allies and foes alike for its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran's top diplomat took solace from the European Union's push this week to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and said that US efforts to push Iran out of Iraq would similarly run into trouble.
“I think US policy direction in the entire region, which is so focused on their obsession with Iran, has backfired in Lebanon, backfired in Syria, backfired in Iraq,” Zarif said. “It will backfire elsewhere.”
Zarif expressed confidence that a new proposed financial mechanism announced by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini last week could help Iran weather some of fallout from US sanctions.
