Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif Says Neither Iran nor Trump Want Confrontation, but Others Do

April 28, 2019 (EIRNS)—In a lengthy interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, posted online yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed the growing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and how to resolve them.

“We do not want conflict, we do not want confrontation.... We resist, but we are not seeking confrontation. We don’t believe that President Trump wants confrontation. But we know there are people who are pushing for one.” He repeated his view that, while President Donald Trump may not want confrontation, the “B-team” of Bolton (National Security Advisor John Bolton), Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), bin Salman (Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman), and bin Zayed (Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed) do want a confrontation, and may provoke an “accident” to make one happen.

“I don’t think military confrontation will happen. I think people have more prudence than allowing a military confrontation to happen. But I think the U.S. administration is putting things in place for accidents to happen. And there has to be extreme vigilance, so that people who are planning this type of accident would not have their way.”

Zarif’s comments reflect a growing awareness of the sharp policy differences between Trump, on the one side, and some of his policy advisors (such as Bolton, Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo), on the other, an awareness which has been stated with increasing clarity by top Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Venezuelan, and other figures.

Zarif also went on to point out the absurdity of the line that Iran is principally responsible for world terrorism, and said the U.S. should rather look to their principal allies in the region:

“Their allies, their clients, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., have spent billions upon billions of dollars trying to create unrest, trying to support terrorist organizations, even in areas we are not present, like in North Africa. Look at what they’re doing in North Africa. Look at the turmoil in North Africa. We’re not even present in North Africa. So you need to look at the trouble where it actually is coming from. It’s not coming from Iran. Who provided the ideology for ISIS? Who provided the ideology for al-Qaeda? Who provided the ideology they’re following? Are they following our ideology? Come on.”