Zarif: Trump’s Anti-Iran Policy Proving US Influence in Decline

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that Iran with the lowest defense spending in the Middle East is the strongest country of the region, while the US with the highest military budget in the world is unable to stop Iran’s growth which shows that the US’ power and influence is waning.

News ID: 74321

Date: 14 December 2018 - 20:36

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif reiterated that Trump, president of a country with the highest military budget in the world, sends representatives to various countries forcing them into stopping business with Iran, which indicates the ebbing of US influence and power.

Zarif made the remarks today addressing a political meeting at Milad Tower in Tehran.

The Iranian diplomatic chief stressed that Iran is a powerful and influential country, in terms of geography and history, and this is a fact that has been proven not only over the past forty years after the victory of Islamic Revolution, but also since the past 7000 years ago.

"Iran's defense budget in the whole region is the lowest, with the exception of Egypt. Saudi Arabia spent over $69 billion last year on weapons purchases. The total budget of the Islamic Republic of Iran in defense field is less than $ 16 billion. So what has made us so powerful? Our nation are the backbone of our national security and we are nothing without our people," he added

He referred to the remarks made by US Sen. Lindsey Graham in a recent interview with Fox News that without US pressure against Iran, "they'd be speaking Farsi in about a week in Saudi Arabia", and said "I am ashamed of hearing these remarks, as a Muslim and a person living in this region, but I am also proud we have lived in such a way for over 40 years that no one could dare to say the same thing about us."

Why are our people so important? If it was fifty years ago, could we talk like this about the role of our nation? No, because the components and tools of power have changed, and that we could act without the intervention of the foreigners and aliens represents our strength; our power is endogenous, Iranian foreign minister noted.

It does not matter to our enemies who is the president or the minister in the Islamic Republic. They do not recognize the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he noted.

The era of all-powerfulness is over, and this is in our favor; Mr. Trump once said that the US military spending equals that of entire world. The United States now has allocated $650 billion for its defense sector, however, President Trump, with all this power, sends representatives to various countries forcing them to stop doing business with Iran, which indicates the decline of US influence and power.

In a related front in early November, Top Military Aide to the Iranian Supreme Leader Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi asserted that the US' power is fading away and Washington is unable to win control over Iranians’ economy and fate.

"According to documents found in the US embassy in Tehran, from the 1953 Coup to the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979 all the affairs of Iran were in hand of the United States," he highlighted.

"In the past 40 years, the US has staged all-out effort to fight Iran but they have conceded a defeat and are forced to retreat from the western Asian region," Safavi added.

He went on to say that with the formation of the Resistance Axis and the guidance of Islamic Revolution Leader and late Imam Khomeini, nations take control of their own fate.

After the fall of both the last Iranian king and the establishment of monarchy in Iran in 1979, the US government tried different scenarios including a direct military attack, coup, indirect military attack via supporting former Iraqi dictator Saddam, funding anti-Iran terrorist groups, and giving home to anti-Iran terrorists.

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