Iran Does Not Want Conflict, Says Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, But Any United States-Saudi Attack Would Spark "All-Out War" by Jake Johnson!
(2019-09-20 at 18:04:50 )

Iran Does Not Want Conflict, Says Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, But Any United States-Saudi Attack Would Spark "All-Out War" by Jake Johnson

"We do not want war. We do not want to engage in a military confrontation. But we will not blink to defend our territory."

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned Thursday that while his nation does not desire military conflict, any attack by the United States or Saudi Arabia would spark "an all-out war" in the Middle East.

The Trump administration and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran for attacks on Saudi oil facilities this past weekend, but Iran has denied any involvement.

Mr. Zarif told CNN that he does not know who was responsible for the incident and accused the United States and Saudi Arabia of falsely pointing fingers at Iran.

"We believe that a military confrontation based on deception is awful, will have a lot of casualties," said Mr. Zarif. "We have never started a war. Go back through the history. We never started a war, any war, in the past 250 years. We do not plan to start another war. It is not in our interest to start a war because we are content with our size, with our geography, with our natural resources, with our human resources, with our strength."

"We believe that we do not need war in this region," Mr. Zarif added. "We believe that we need dialogue, we need cooperation, we need confidence-building in this region."

Mr. Zarifs comments came hours after United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attacks on Saudi oil facilities "an act of war" during a meeting with Saudi leaders on Wednesday.

In a tweet responding to Mr. Pompeos comment, Mr. Zarif accused Pompeo and the Saudis of "agitation for war."

"For their own sake, they should pray that they will not get what they seek," said Mr. Zarif.

"They are still paying for much smaller Yemen war they were too arrogant to end four years ago."

Reprinted here from "Common Dreams" has been providing breaking news & views for the progressive community since 1997. We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100% reader supported.