Iran FM: Trump ‘repeating the same mistakes’
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Donald Trump administration is repeating the same mistakes that led to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and growing chaos and instability in the Middle East.
NEW YORK — While Iran has so far not accepted President Donald Trump’s offer of direct talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday had a message for Trump that speaks to the US president’s frequent complaints about the cost in blood and treasure of US interventions in the Middle East.
“Trump says, ‘We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East and got nowhere,’” Zarif, speaking to a small group of journalists in New York on Saturday, said. “So, why is he repeating the same mistakes? Is he doing anything different?”
“Now, he may not be spending that money,” Zarif said. “He may be asking Saudi Arabia to spend the money for it. But it is the same policy. … What got you into the misery that you’re in right now in the Middle East: … It is the policy that is the problem. And I believe the United States would be well off if it started re-examining the policy that got you here.”
While noting that it was largely the United States that found itself isolated at the United Nations last week over its decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Zarif expressed frustration at American, Israeli and Gulf allegations about Iran’s destabilizing presence in the region, support for proxy groups and proliferation of ballistic missile technology to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
