SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gestures during a press conference in Tehran, Feb. 13, 2019. (Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
Iran Doesn't Want Conflict, Says Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, But Any US-Saudi Attack Would Spark 'All-Out War'
"We don't want war. We don't want to engage in a military confrontation. But we won't blink to defend our territory."
Sep 19, 2019
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned Thursday that while his nation does not desire military conflict, any attack by the United States or Saudi Arabia would spark "an all-out war" in the Middle East.
"We don't want war. We don't want to engage in a military confrontation," Zarif said in an exclusive interview with CNN. "But we won't blink to defend our territory."
The Trump administration and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran for attacks on Saudi oil facilities this past weekend, but Iran has denied any involvement.
Zarif told CNN that he does not know who was responsible for the incident and accused the U.S. and Saudi Arabia of falsely pointing fingers at Iran.
"We believe that a military confrontation based on deception is awful, will have a lot of casualties," said Zarif. "We have never started a war. Go back through the history. We never started a war, any war, in the past 250 years. We don't plan to start another war. It's not in our interest to start a war because we are content with our size, with our geography, with our natural resources, with our human resources, with our strength."
"We believe that we do not need war in this region," Zarif added. "We believe that we need dialogue, we need cooperation, we need confidence-building in this region."
Watch:
Zarif's comments came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attacks on Saudi oil facilities "an act of war" during a meeting with Saudi leaders on Wednesday.
In a tweet responding to Pompeo's comment, Zarif accused Pompeo and the Saudis of "agitation for war."
"For their own sake, they should pray that they won't get what they seek," said Zarif. "They're still paying for much smaller Yemen war they were too arrogant to end four years ago."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned Thursday that while his nation does not desire military conflict, any attack by the United States or Saudi Arabia would spark "an all-out war" in the Middle East.
"We don't want war. We don't want to engage in a military confrontation," Zarif said in an exclusive interview with CNN. "But we won't blink to defend our territory."
The Trump administration and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran for attacks on Saudi oil facilities this past weekend, but Iran has denied any involvement.
Zarif told CNN that he does not know who was responsible for the incident and accused the U.S. and Saudi Arabia of falsely pointing fingers at Iran.
"We believe that a military confrontation based on deception is awful, will have a lot of casualties," said Zarif. "We have never started a war. Go back through the history. We never started a war, any war, in the past 250 years. We don't plan to start another war. It's not in our interest to start a war because we are content with our size, with our geography, with our natural resources, with our human resources, with our strength."
"We believe that we do not need war in this region," Zarif added. "We believe that we need dialogue, we need cooperation, we need confidence-building in this region."
Watch:
Zarif's comments came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attacks on Saudi oil facilities "an act of war" during a meeting with Saudi leaders on Wednesday.
In a tweet responding to Pompeo's comment, Zarif accused Pompeo and the Saudis of "agitation for war."
"For their own sake, they should pray that they won't get what they seek," said Zarif. "They're still paying for much smaller Yemen war they were too arrogant to end four years ago."
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned Thursday that while his nation does not desire military conflict, any attack by the United States or Saudi Arabia would spark "an all-out war" in the Middle East.
"We don't want war. We don't want to engage in a military confrontation," Zarif said in an exclusive interview with CNN. "But we won't blink to defend our territory."
The Trump administration and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran for attacks on Saudi oil facilities this past weekend, but Iran has denied any involvement.
Zarif told CNN that he does not know who was responsible for the incident and accused the U.S. and Saudi Arabia of falsely pointing fingers at Iran.
"We believe that a military confrontation based on deception is awful, will have a lot of casualties," said Zarif. "We have never started a war. Go back through the history. We never started a war, any war, in the past 250 years. We don't plan to start another war. It's not in our interest to start a war because we are content with our size, with our geography, with our natural resources, with our human resources, with our strength."
"We believe that we do not need war in this region," Zarif added. "We believe that we need dialogue, we need cooperation, we need confidence-building in this region."
Watch:
Zarif's comments came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attacks on Saudi oil facilities "an act of war" during a meeting with Saudi leaders on Wednesday.
In a tweet responding to Pompeo's comment, Zarif accused Pompeo and the Saudis of "agitation for war."
"For their own sake, they should pray that they won't get what they seek," said Zarif. "They're still paying for much smaller Yemen war they were too arrogant to end four years ago."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.