Iran’s Foreign Minister Says U.S. Risks Ostracism if Signed Nuclear Deal Is Scrapped
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Version 0 of 1. Demonstrating suave fluency in English and a familiarity with American history and law, Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that the United States would risk global ostracism if it were to scrap a signed international pact that resolves the Iranian nuclear dispute. The foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s top diplomat in the nuclear negotiations, also said he was optimistic that the final phase of talks to achieve that agreement would succeed by a June 30 deadline. “I don’t think the problems are insurmountable,” Mr. Zarif told an audience at New York University while on a visit to New York to attend a United Nations conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, of which Iran is a signatory. Mr. Zarif’s 90-minute appearance, structured as a conversation and question-and-answer session moderated by David Ignatius, a foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Post, touched on a range of topics besides the nuclear talks between Iran and the so-called P5-plus-1 powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. They included the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, the ascendance of the Islamic State extremist group and Iran’s relations — or lack of them — with Saudi Arabia, the United States and Israel. He expressed hope that Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Iran correspondent, who has been imprisoned for nine months and faces espionage charges that the newspaper and Mr. Rezaian’s family have described as absurd, would be able to clear his name in court. Educated in the United States, Mr. Zarif was easygoing and smiling, living up to his image as a diplomatic charmer to an audience that was polite and respectful. But he assumed a blunter tone in response to questions about efforts in Congress to review any nuclear agreement before it takes effect. He also took a few verbal pokes at Senator Tom Cotton, the Arkansas Republican who drafted a letter signed by 47 Republican senators warning Iran’s leadership that the validity of President Obama’s signature on an agreement could be undone by the next administration. “I believe the United States will risk isolating itself in the world if there is an agreement and it decides to break it,” Mr. Zarif said. “I think the United States, whether you have a Democratic president or whether you have a Republican president, is bound by international law, whether some senators like it or not. And international law requires the United States to live up to the terms of an agreement that this government enters into.” He asserted that most United States agreements overseas, dating back to the 1930s, were executive agreements, not ratified by Congress, “that have stood the test of decades.” “So if the U.S. Senate wants to send a message to the rest of the world that all of these agreements are invalid, then you will have chaos in your bilateral relations with the rest of the world,” Mr. Zarif said. “I don’t think that is something that even the most radical elements in Congress want to see.” Mr. Zarif’s comments angered Senator Cotton, who challenged the Iranian in a series of Twitter messages. “Hey@JZarif, I hear you called me out today,” the senator wrote, using Mr. Zarif’s Twitter name. “If you’re so confident, let’s debate the Constitution.” He also said Mr. Zarif had exhibited “a cowardly character” by living in the United States during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Many American lawmakers doubt Iran’s promises of peaceful nuclear intent, which the impending agreement, should it be reached, is meant to guarantee. In return, the litany of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities would be terminated. Mr. Zarif described the nuclear arsenals of big powers and Israel as the most worrisome threats to peace and security, repeating the Iranian narrative that it does not want nuclear weapons and is transparent about its peaceful ambitions. He rejected Western depictions of Iran as untrustworthy, and countered that many Iranians think the same of the United States. Mr. Zarif was especially derisive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who has criticized what he calls deep flaws in the impending nuclear agreement and has described it as a pathway for Iran to obtain atomic bombs. Mr. Zarif said the Israeli leader’s position was “laughable,” since Israel has its own arsenal of nuclear weapons, something the Israelis have never confirmed nor denied. “Netanyahu has become everyone’s nonproliferation guru,” Mr. Zarif said. “He’s sitting on 400 nuclear warheads.” |