Iranian Ambassador Reza Sajadi: “We have ideological differences with the United States!”
Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajadi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation
What do you think is the true nature of whipping up the situation around Iran? Is it actually related to Iran’s nuclear program? If so, what serious demands does the world community and the IAEA make to Iran that such international tension arises, whereas, for example, nobody really had anything to do with North Korea’s successful nuclear program, and Israel’s nuclear program was generally supported by Britain and the United States? ! Or, perhaps, the current pressure situation is connected slightly with other moments? In particular, with the independent position of the Central Bank of Iran, as well as with hydrocarbon reserves and their uninterrupted supply by Iran to India and China ?! What do you think?
This is a very good question. Indeed, our country's nuclear program is only a pretext for imposing sanctions. And in fact, the essence of the events lies in two points. First, we believe that the United States does not have the right to rule the world. Therefore, we do not support the current inadequate US foreign policy, which is dangerous for all mankind. Secondly, we do not recognize Israel. We believe that Palestine was usurped by Israel and this territory must be returned back to the Palestinians, who have lived there for many hundreds of years, sooner or later. And the current Zionist regime of Israel, politically and militarily supported from Washington, should disappear. These factors are the basis for our disagreements with the United States of America.
At the same time, I immediately want to note that Iran recognizes Judaism and the Iranian people respect the Jews. For our part there are not and never have been any manifestations of racism. We do not recognize only the current Israeli Zionist regime, because we believe that it is precisely Zionism that is a racist political party. By the way, many Jews also oppose Zionism.
Who do you think is really behind the pressure on Iran? Is this Israel with the ardent anti-Iranian rhetoric of a number of local politicians or in fact behind all are the US financial elites who manipulate the politicians in the leadership of Israel for their own purposes, for which they are even willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives of innocent citizens?
We believe that pressure comes from two sides. On the one hand, the Zionists, who have influence on the political and economic policies of Israel, are against Iran. On the other hand, the US government acts against us, which is also largely under the control of the Zionists.
So the US elites control the elites of Israel or is Israel still acting more independently at their own peril and risk ?!
There is an inextricable link between the elites of the United States and the elites of Israel. They interact with each other on a variety of key issues. At the same time, we are confident that if the United States refuses to support Israel at least for one day, even this will have very sad consequences for the latter. And once again it is worth noting in substance that the Zionist lobby in political parties and government structures of the United States is very strong. And it plays against Iran. This is mostly the reason for the emergence of difficulties in relations between Iran and the United States.
So you think that the disagreements between Iran and the United States have an ideological, and not a financial basis ?!
Yes, definitely! We have exactly ideological differences!
How does Iran’s leadership relate to Syria’s leadership? What is the real informational and political hysteria around this country really connected with in Iran? In particular, your position in this context is very interesting regarding the supply of the so-called “Syrian free army” and “Al-Qaeda” to Syria weapons Israeli and American production,
and the detention of foreign mercenaries in Syria.
Iran believes that the Syrian people must choose their own destiny. As for the US position on the Syrian issue, we believe that the US leadership simply does not like the policy of the current President of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad, and they, along with a number of Arab states, are doing their utmost to force Bashar Al-Assad to leave his post. To achieve this goal, the United States and its allies in the face of the leadership of Qatar and Saudi Arabia destabilize the situation in Syria from the outside, supplying weapons to the enemies of Bashar al-Assad and recruiting mercenaries from all over the world to fight it. At the same time, the policy of double standards in relation to the leadership of Syria from the West is clearly visible. For example, in the city of Al-Hula in Syria, mercenaries without mercy dealt with the locals. Moreover, they killed unarmed women and children - those who can not fight back. At the same time, the Western media presented the tragedy in Al-Hula as the work of the Syrian army, which is an absolute cynical lie. Not a single Syrian thinks of killing his wives and children! It was done by those criminals who, for Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s money, are going to fight against Bashar al-Assad in Syria and who show no compassion for the local population. And so we insist that the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia abandon their support for these elements, so that events do not take an irreversible turn, as has already been the case in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
What is your connection to the anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian position of the monarchies of the Persian Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates ?! Do you think that the leaders of these countries are not puppets in the game of Western financiers, with whom they act like pawns on a chessboard, although they still consider themselves to be queens?
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates at one time occupied a similar position as Shah's Iran. After the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini took place in Iran in 1979, the monarchs of the Persian Gulf were afraid that they could begin similar processes. In the end, to prevent this from happening, they gave Saddam Hussein in Iraq 100 billions of dollars in order to start a war against Iran, which subsequently happened. And after Iraq was defeated in that war, the leaders of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, not without help from the United States, began to stir up clashes between Muslims on religious grounds. In particular, they began to actively promote the beginning of hostility between Shiites and Sunnis. The goal of those who incite such contradictions in the Islamic world is the only one - the destruction of ties between the peoples in the Middle East, so that they do not choose the independent path of their development, which Iran has taken in its time.
It is also worth noting that the Americans until the last moment supported the regime of Zina al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and the regime of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and now it is strategically necessary for the United States that Saudi Arabia is still ruled by the royal house of Saud and Qatar by their appointees from the dynasty Al Thani.
With Saudi Arabia and Qatar, everything is clear - there is oil and US military bases. But the situation with Hosni Mubarak is not quite clear. If my memory serves me, the US State Department insisted on his leaving, but until the last moment Mubarak held on to power even against the will of the United States. Moreover, in this context it is also worth remembering the events in Libya during the so-called “Arab Spring”. There, Muammar Gaddafi was opposed by almost the entire NATO bloc, supporting Libyan "revolutionaries" with military force. Did not the United States simply exchange its puppets for something more global ?!
We believe that calls by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in February 2011 for Hosni Mubarak to resign as President of Egypt are a political trick of the Americans. As for the artificial creation of controlled chaos in the territory of the Maghreb and the Middle East within the framework of the so-called “Greater Middle East” project, this is the opinion of some Russian political scientists. We believe that it was precisely the people's speeches that took place on the territory of these states. As for the personalities of individual leaders of the protest, this is a separate topic.
So let's talk just about these individuals. Do you think that the movement “Brothers Muslims”, which organized unrest in Egypt in 2011 year, and then progressively came to power there, removing the military from it and which is now actively involved in destabilizing the situation in Syria, is under control USA?!
“Muslim Brotherhood” is an Islamic structure that has deep national roots. It combines many different directions. At the same time, US intelligence agencies have always sought to penetrate into various influential communities in the Islamic world. And, perhaps, in some cases in the organization “Brothers Muslims” they managed to do it. But, in general, “Brothers Muslims” - this is precisely the popular movement that came out of the people and enjoys its support. Similar processes took place in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.
Is it possible, given the sanctions against Iran by a number of Western countries, for Iran to fully switch to a netting system (without using currency) when trading with its partners: Russia, India, China and Pakistan?
We are already acting in this way. With China, our trade goes through mutual settlements using national currencies: rial and yuan. Similarly with India - rial and rupee and with Russia - rial and ruble. This is a very good experience. Moreover, such a scheme of mutual settlements strengthens trade with these three countries.
What prevents to combine the efforts of the anti-American bloc ?! Now Iran and Syria are confronting the United States by themselves. Venezuela too. Cuba has a separate story. At the same time, the example of Gaddafi’s “loner” is very instructive, I think. By the way, the main centers of the Islamic world are now controlled by Washington. Not under their control unless Iran, Syria, Pakistan and partially a number of countries in Southeast Asia.
The main contradictions for rapprochement are ideological. It is worth noting that now it is the United States that is the most odious country in the world. The population of many countries, ranging from Malaysia and ending with South Africa, are united under the slogan "Down with America!". And there is only one reason - there are a lot of people dissatisfied with the fact that the leaders of the USA regularly commit crimes and insult the peoples of many countries. And, most importantly, if these peoples choose the path of independence, as Iran did in 1979, the United States will lose its influence in the world. This is what the United States is now trying to actively oppose by striking blows at those centers of power that are no longer under their control.
And, it is worth noting that it is Iran that is now one of the models of the state that does not obey the United States, hence the harsh rhetoric of the United States against Iran. But the United States will not be able to start a war against our country - they are simply unable to fight. Therefore, now the US wants to force Iran to obey in many other ways: imposing sanctions, threatening, slandering. Indeed, earlier, immediately after the collapse of the USSR, such an idea was born that no country can resist the United States. There was a time that only even a verbal threat from America could be costly to any "guilty" state. Therefore, now it is a great shame for the United States that Iran does not obey them. And they want with all their might to force Iran to negotiate with them on terms unfavorable to Iran.
Do Qatar and the Saudis, the leaders of Hamas and Fatah, bribe in order to remove these Palestinian factions from the game ?!
Everything is possible, but do not forget that at all times there were people who could not be bought for any money. And I want to believe that the leaders of Hamas and Fatah are among those people.
Reza Sajadi and Dmitry Ershov
And again, if you go back to the situation in Syria. Please compare the situation during the “Arab Spring” in these two countries. Agree, there is something in common. For example, the same al-Qaeda played its role, which came out against Gaddafi in Libya, and now in Syria the militants of this group are fighting against Bashar al-Assad.
As for al-Qaeda, this organization exists on Saudi money. Saudi money and Saudi interests are everywhere there. Nor should we forget that al-Qaeda, like the Taliban, was created by the US special services, but then some differences arose between them. As for Gaddafi, he had very bad relations with Al-Qaeda due to the fact that he decided to appoint himself as the leader of the entire Arab world. Accordingly, certain powerful forces in the same Arab world really disliked it and, through Al-Qaida, Gadhafi tried to eliminate it.
For the US, the elimination of Gaddafi and the war in Libya were certainly a mistake. Gaddafi has not opposed the West for many years. Moreover, he actively assisted the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as President of France, and also had very close friendships with the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. And in recent years, Muammar Gaddafi also actively collaborated with the United States. Therefore, we believe that Gaddafi was overthrown in the first place because of dissatisfaction with his policies on the part of a part of the population of Libya, as well as discontent of some forces in the Arab world and the stupidity of US politicians and some European countries, which turned into an instrument of influence in the hands of the same Arab forces .
In Syria, the situation is slightly different. Bashar Assad again does not suit a number of powerful forces in the Arab world and the tools controlled by these forces are used against him, which were used against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Bashar al-Assad “guilty” before these forces with his independent policy, as well as good relations with Iran, Russia and China. There is no internal division within Syrian society now. All instability in Syria comes from the outside for the money of Qatar and Saudi Arabia with the political support of the United States and the European Union.
Why no one writes about the true goals of the Wahhabis? And also about who exactly developed this movement from non-existence in the 19 century?
We believe that the Wahhabis are an artificial structure, which at one time developed on the Arabian Peninsula with the help of British intelligence to weaken the influence of the Ottoman Empire there. But even after the Ottoman Empire was no more - the Wahhabi movement continued in the future. Wahhabism is a religious movement where there is absolutely no constructiveness. For those who control Wahhabism on the Arabian Peninsula, and not only there, all means are good for achieving their goals. They are ready for any violence, any crime. And therefore, Wahhabism is dangerous both for Islam and for the whole human society as a whole.
Mr. Ambassador, in your opinion, is a military conflict between Iran on the one hand and the United States and Israel on the other possible in the near future ?! Or will the confrontation, as before, continue only in the sphere of loud statements and economic sanctions ?!
Now we are confident that the Americans want to continue the pressure on Iran only by imposing the maximum possible economic sanctions against our country in order to undermine our economic development. The United States and Israel incite other countries that have active trade relations with Iran to impose sanctions on Iran. In perspective, the current US President Barack Obama wants to deal with a weak Iran after winning the elections in November-December of this year. But this just will not happen. At one time, the US has already used Iraq to destroy the infrastructure of Iran by means of war. Nothing happened either. Now they are imposing sanctions. But Iran today is the most powerful state in the region. And Iran has long been successfully developing in terms of sanctions. We have learned to turn threats to our country into opportunities. And therefore such pressure from the West on Iran only helps our development!
Dear Reza! You mentioned Barack Obama and his policies. But don't you think that in the USA the president performs only a decorative function, and the decision-making center is somewhere in the shadow of the Fed, the largest banks and transnational corporations ?! Therefore, it does not even matter whether Obama wins in December or Romney comes to power - the US foreign policy will not change. What do you think?!
I agree with you. I remember with what slogans the current President Barack Obama came to power in the USA: “Changes we can believe in!” “Yes we can!” And the like. I remember how Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. But what changes happened then ?! Where is the world ?! During his presidency, Barack Obama only got into new conflicts on the planet. On his conscience participation in the military campaign in Libya last year. Now Obama and some “hotheads” from his team openly call for events similar to those in Libya in Syria! There is also a "muscle game" near the borders of Iran in the Persian Gulf. American politics is the same in the end. There was Bush and there were wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama came to power and all the same new wars, despite election promises.
Thank you very much for the interesting conversation, Your Excellency!
- Dmitry Ershov
- Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Moscow
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