Iran seeks neither tension nor war: FM Zarif
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that the country is seeking neither tension nor war adding, the measures taken by the outgoing US President Donald Trump’s administration will have no effects on the will of the Iranian people.
He made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament where he answered several questions raised by the Iranian MPs about the country’s Foreign Policy, IRNA reported.
Referring to Trump’s last minutes moves against Iran, Zarif said his actions will not affect the firm will of the Iranian people.
In the final days of the Republican Trump's term, Washington has mounted its provocative pressures on Tehran by imposing more sanctions on a number of companies in Iran and some other countries for doing business with Tehran just a few days after the US blacklisted two Iranian foundations and their subsidies, claiming that they kept the ownership over large parts of the country’s economy. The US has also stepped up its provocative moves in the region by sending a nuclear-powered submarine to the region and flying its B-52 bombers over the Persian Gulf. Washington also extended the stay of an aircraft carrier as a warning to the Islamic Republic.
Iran's military forces, including the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), have conducted more than 10 maneuvers in recent days.
The exercises featured tests of drones in the Sea of Oman and northern Indian Ocean as well as mass launches of ballistic ground-to-ground missiles and destruction of hypothetical enemy warships.
In the final stage of Iran’s Army naval forces drills in a vast area spanning the southern Makran coastal strip on the Sea of Oman and north of the Indian Ocean, the naval units spotted a foreign submarine near the military exercise zone in northern parts of the Indian Ocean.
The foreign vessel was approaching the military exercise zone when it was spotted by the Iranian Navy anti-submarine helicopters and left the area immediately after realizing that it has been identified, according to the public relations office of the Iranian Army statement.
In a tweet on Sunday, the Iranian foreign minister reacted to recent overflights by US strategic B-52H bomber planes, noting that the Iranian nation will never be intimidated by such shows of force.
He added that Iranians are not a belligerent nation and “have not started a war in over 200 years,” emphasizing, “We don’t shy [away] from crushing aggressors.”
More in his talks to reporters on the sidelines of Monday's meeting with the Parliament's committee, Zarif referred to those who may intend to take an action against Iran, and stressed, "If any individual intends to carry out an act of aggression against Iran, they should take the history of previous aggression into consideration. However, I think that within the next one or two days left of Trump's administration, our deterrence will act well," he added.
In another development, an Iranian MP said that during the meeting of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Zarif said that Iran’s policy toward US new administration will be “action for an action,” Mehr News Agency reported.
According to spokesman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Abolfazl Amouei, Foreign minister Zarif told participants of the meeting that Iran will pursue a policy of action for an action toward the administration of president-elect Joe Biden who will officially take office as the 46th President of the United States as of January 20.
Source: Iran Daily