TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that the so-called U.S. “deal of the century” shows that Iran is not an enemy of the Arab world.

Politicians and analysts say that through the deal of the century the Trump administration is formally giving the Palestinian lands to Israel. 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called the U.S. proposal the “slap of the century”.

“A procedure has been started since 10 years ago to portray Iran as the main threat in the region in order to make the Arabs accept the Zionist regime’s demands,” he said during a speech at the AJA University of Command and Staff, known as DAFOOS in its Persian acronyms.

Zarif said when the Zionist regime was making arrangements for the Oslo and Madrid peace processes in 1991, the former ambassador of the Zionist regime’s to Iran during the Shah regime had said that “they have decided to replace Arabs with Iran for animosity and make peace with Arabs”.

The chief diplomat said as the Zionist regime and the U.S. fiercely opposed the JCPOA and the world openly realized that Iran is not a “war-mongering” country and thereby their plots to demonize Iran was thwarted, the deal of the century will also foil plots to portray Iran as the enemy of the Arab world.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the general provisions of the plan at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side on January 28.

At their emergency meetings on Saturday and Monday, both the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) rejected the deal of the century.

‘Certain regional countries imagine they can buy security’

Zarif also said that certain countries in the region have the illusion that they can “buy security” and this is the main impediment to implementing the Hormuz peace plan proposed by Iran.

Iran has proposed a series of plans for regional security and their last one is the Hormuz peace plan which has been welcomed by a number of regional countries, he stated.

“There are three countries, which in my opinion do not seek peace; they think they can keep the United States in the region if they show that the region is not secure. There is an assumption in our region that security can be bought. This is the main impediment to the Hormuz peace plan,” Zarif pointed out.

At the United Nations summit in New York in late September 2019, Iran formally unveiled the proposal for regional security, officially called the Hormuz Peace Endeavour (HOPE).

“Based upon the historical responsibility of my country in maintaining security, peace, stability and progress in the Persian Gulf region and Strait of Hormuz, I would like to invite all the countries directly affected by the developments in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to the ‘Coalition for Hope’, meaning Hormuz Peace Endeavor,” President Hassan Rouhani told the UN delegates.

Zarif has invited all regional states to join Iran’s initiative for securing the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

In a tweet in September, Zarif said the initiative entails “dialogue, confidence-building, freedom of navigation, energy security, non-aggression, and non-intervention”.

In a post on his Twitter account on October 15, Zarif renewed Iran’s call to all countries bordering the Persian Gulf to join Tehran’s initiative to “forge a blueprint for peace, security, stability, and prosperity” in the region.

‘Participation in elections will prove failure of Trump’s policy’

After his speech to high-ranking officers, Zarif told reporters that the people’s participation in parliamentary elections on February 21 will prove that Washington must stop maximum pressure and admit the failure of Trump’s policy and lift sanctions and return to the 5+1 group.

Trump unilaterally quit the nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions in history on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran.

Many analysts and think tanks believe that the maximum pressure policy has failed.

NA/PA