Zarif:

US democracy mere rhetoric of ‘with us or against us’

TEHRAN (defapress) – Foreign Minister Javad Zarif late on Wed. lashed out at Trump’s threats about cutting off financial assistance to those countries voting for a UN resolution against his decision on embassy relocation.

News ID: 67634

Date: 21 December 2017 - 10:22

“Trump['s] regime exposes contempt for democracy through its threats against those who dare resist its thuggish demands at the UN — all while Trump insults Iran crudely as 'dictatorship',” Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.

He went on to add, “US version of democracy stops at the rhetoric of either with us or against us.”

Zarif’s reaction came as the US administration threatened that it would halt its financial assistance for those countries that will vote in the UN General Assembly on Thursday for a proposed resolution which is drafted against Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of the Israeli regime.

"They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we're watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

The recognition was in line with Donald Trump’s decision to relocate US embassy in Tel Aviv to al-Quds, a move that has drawn strong criticism from the international community, even some of the US allies.

On Thursday, UN General Assembly will hold an emergency special meeting on Trump’s decision and put to the vote a resolution, days after Washington used its veto power to block a similar Egypt-drafted resolution against the move at the UN Security Council.

The UN General Assembly resolutions, unlike the ones passed in the Security Council, are non-binding.