Tehran, IRNA – Former foreign minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif says peace and stability pose the “biggest and only threat” to Israel, arguing that the occupying regime has consistently opposed any prospect of regional calm, including the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Speaking on Saturday at the International Iranology Conference in Tehran on Saturday, Zarif said Israel’s behavior shows it views peace as a danger.
“The biggest and only threat to the life of the Zionist regime is peace and tranquility. Whenever there has been talk of peace, Israel has opposed it,” he said.
Referring to the US-abandoned nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he asked, “Why was Israel the main opponent of the JCPOA? What was the JCPOA supposed to do other than to bring calm to the region?”
Zarif questioned why Israel launched a strike on Iran two days before the sixth round of Iran–US negotiations, reiterating that for Israel, “peace is a vital threat, and they have created a false and baseless narrative in the world to pursue their policy.”
He argued that Iran’s cultural heritage contrasts sharply with what he described as Israel’s fabricated narrative.
Citing Persian literary figures, he said: “Iran is the land of Hafez, who says ‘The comfort of both worlds is in these two phrases: kindness to friends and tolerance toward enemies.’ Iran is the birthplace of Saadi, who says ‘If one member is afflicted with pain, other members will be restless.’ This is Iran’s message, and Israel has falsely created a message to continue its genocide and daily aggressions against the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, and others.”
Zarif also denounced Israel for involvement in terrorism abroad. “Find a country where Israel has not carried out a terrorist operation,” he said.
Turning to global politics, Zarif said the United States failed in its attempt to impose a unipolar system after the Cold War.
He argued that despite heavy costs and “continuous military aggressions” from Iraq to Africa, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and beyond, Washington “could not dominate the world with a unipolar order.”
He noted that even US institutions acknowledged this failure. “In 2006, the well-known Iraq Study Group report stated that military power had not enabled the United States to achieve its goals,” he said.