Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that the unilateral policy adopted by the US represents a serious threat to world politics and members of the international community.
“We believe that the United States is pushing a new sort of violent unilateralism, an extremist unilateralism, which destroys all the foundations of global order,” Zarif said in an interview with China's state-run Xinhua news agency, when asked about whether he agrees with the Chinese Foreign Minister that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a competition between unilateralism and multilateralism.
Zarif pointed out that "the best counter-measure" against those disruptive "unilateral tendencies by the United States" is the adoption of a multilateral approach, which implies "dialogue and working for the common good and common destiny.”
According to Zarif, the current US president's administration “strongly believes in the use of coercive measures.” The latter, he said, “usually threaten the lives of ordinary citizens,” and “that is why Iran and China rightly called these actions by the United States economic terrorism.”
The Iranian foreign minister also commented on the US stance regarding Hong Kong protests, criticizing Washington for intervening in China-Hong Kong internal affairs. He highlighted that the way out of the unrest in Hong Kong is in dialogue and reaching mutual understanding, according to PressTV, citing a Xinhua interview.
Iranian officials have consistently pointed out that Tehran does not seek war, instead, it is looking for developing mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries.
In 2018, the US withdrew from the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, subsequently reimposing sanctions against Iran that have targeted key sectors of the country's economic system.
Tehran, reacting to the unilateral US withdrawal, announced that it would partially suspend its obligations under the JCPOA and abandon its nuclear commitments every 60 days until the five remaining signatories to the deal (China, France, Germany, the UK, and Russia) ensure Tehran's interests are protected.
