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Al-e Habib made the remarks as he was addressing a UN General Assembly conference with a focus on the need to end “economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

Following is the full text of his statement published by IRNA:

At the outset, I wish to take this opportunity to offer our warm welcome to Mr. Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla, the Foreign Minister of Cuba.

My delegation associates itself with the statements delivered yesterday by the representatives of Palestine, Azerbaijan, and Uganda, on behalf of Group of 77 and China, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries as well as Organization of Islamic Conference. However, I would also like to add the following remarks in my national capacity.

Today, we are witnessing that the expansionist and arrogant approach of a certain Government presents the greatest threat and challenge to world peace and security. The growing resort to unilateral coercive measures is one of the clear symptoms of unilateralism coupled with an interventionist, flawed and short-sighted foreign policy.

Among others, unilateral embargoes and coercive sanctions, as a means to achieving national policy objectives, have a seriously adverse impact on the promotion of peace at the regional and international levels. They are fundamental impediments to establishing not only a peaceful and prosperous world but also a just and equitable international order which is a vital prerequisite for sustainable development.

The inhumane sanctions and blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for almost six decades is the most unjust and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions applied against any country. These aggressive measures constitute a gross violation of the norms and principles underpinning the international relations order. No Cuban citizen or sector of the economy has been immune from the negative effects of this unilateral policy which hinders the development that every country is entitled to construct in a sovereign manner.

In the past year, the tightening of the blockade has continued to be the central pivot of U.S. government policy towards Cuba, with ever more notable effects in its extraterritorial application.

Regretfully, we have observed that the U.S. Department of State has on different occasions expanded the “Restricted List of Cuban Entities”, to the blockade regulations, which caused considerable damage to the country’s economy because of its effects of intimidating the international business community.

In fact, the U.S. has been addicted to imposing unilateral sanctions when it comes to States that do not submit to or follow its contradictory and expansionist policies. In reality, Iran and Cuba are paying the price for their resistance and insistence on their independence from the United States’ colonialist policies. Iran has experienced the U.S. unlawful sanctions since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution 40 years ago.

Within the last four decades, the U.S. has imposed unilateral coercive measures on the Iranian people at an increasing rate to the extent that the current U.S. Administration, defiant of the established norms, has even targeted importation of medicine and medical equipment. Thus, patients, women and children, refugees, poor and those in vulnerable situations have become the prime target of the U.S. genocidal economic terrorism–against all principles of international law.

The U.S. Administration wants the world to believe that it is concerned about the Iranian people. Yet the very first sanctions it reimposed have canceled licenses for sales of more than 200 passenger jets under absurd pretexts, endangering ordinary Iranians. U.S. hypocrisy knows no bounds.

The economic war that the United States has initiated under the rubric of putting “Maximum Pressure” through imposing new sanctions, not only targets the Iranian public but also has harmful repercussions for the peoples of other countries, and has disrupted the state of global trade.

The message of today’s meeting is a reaffirmation of the fact that the time for interventionist policies and interference in the farthest reaches of the world is long over.

Iran will keep working with its partners to create a new environment in which self-respecting nations can pursue their own interests and international obligations. We will continue to work to offset unlawful U.S. sanctions and irrevocably eliminate the destabilizing phenomenon of the U.S. extraterritorial application of domestic legislation.

The world needs to find solutions against such destructive interventions and unilateralism.

Iran strongly believes in cooperating with friendly countries, including Cuba to address this challenge prudently and will not allow the U.S. Administration, which has stripped the U.S. foreign policy of any principles, to achieve its illegitimate objectives.

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“We believe that the United States is pushing a new sort of violent unilateralism, an extremist unilateralism, which destroys all the foundations of global order,” said Zarif, as quoted by Press TV.

He made the comment in response to a question whether he agreed with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi that the Iran 2015 nuclear deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – is in fact a contest between unilateralism and multilateralism.

Elaborating on the reasons why the US sticks to unilateralism and the best way to counter it, Zarif noted, “Multilateralism is the best counter-measure against unilateral tendencies by the United States.”

He also said that the US and particularly the administration of Trump “strongly believes in the use of coercive measures”, which “usually threaten the lives of ordinary citizens,” and “that is why Iran and China rightly called these actions by the United States economic terrorism.”

He also insisted that “dialogue and working for the common good and common destiny” were the best ways to deal with the “very negative tendencies” promoted by Washington.

“That’s how we view the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a program and as a process to bring about greater economic connectivity and greater economic growth and development to the countries within the BRI,” the Iranian foreign minister said, adding that this is the reason why Iran has supported the initiative and is a major partner to it.

Zarif also said that the BRI is important for Iran since “we see the Belt and Road Initiative as a possibility to enhance growth and connectivity and also to address some of the regional problems, including drug trafficking, poverty.”

He also said that Iran can willingly offer both its North-South and East-West corridors to promote the BRI.

Commenting on the months-long unrest in Hong Kong, Zarif said that Iran calls for holding talks to reach mutual understanding, insisting that intervention cannot solve problem.

He also lambasted the US for intervening in China-Hong Kong internal affairs.

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He added that such unilateral and protectionist view to the international affairs has posed a real threat to the global peace and stability.

He said even Washington’s allies are exposed to the unprecedented US interference in their internal affairs.

The challenge posed by new US policies is weakening the governance of law at the international level while threatening the global peace and stability in various ways, he stressed.

The Iranian top diplomat maintained that Iran is pioneering in resisting against the US unilateral demands, including its “economic terrorism”.

Zarif then slammed Donald Trump for withdrawing the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and his administration’s continued efforts to push the agreement to the brink of collapse despite other countries’ investment to bring it about.

He further noted that the US’ withdrawal was not only in violation of relevant UN Security Council resolution, but the country also ironically sanctioned those who tried to abide by it.

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Naming China a significant partner of Iran in the digital economy, the Iranian minister noted that US is pursuing unilateralism in the IT sector as world’s prominent companies active in infrastructure, network, services are American,

Jahromi added that the US sanctions have created some problems for Iran, however, the country has learned how to confront them.

On June 25, Jahromi said that protecting the privacy and security of people in cyberspace should be the highest priority for all of countries, adding that Iranian startups are the best today and Iran invites all countries to invest in this field. Referring to standing against the US, Azari Jahromi called on international community to confront the US unilateralism.

The Iranian minister left Tehran for Dalian, China, on Sunday to take part in World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC).

More than 1,800 leaders from government, business, civil society, academia and the arts will converge in the Chinese coastal city of Dalian from 1-3 July.

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He warned that such actions could create “an even greater crisis”.

He said that China is ‘very concerned’ about the situation in the Persian Gulf, and called on all sides to ease tension and not head toward a clash.

“We call on all sides to remain rational and exercise restraint, and not take any escalatory actions that irritate regional tensions, and not open a Pandora’s box,” Wang said.

He called on Iran to be more prudent regarding the JCPOA, saying, “we hope that Iran is cautious with its decision-making and not lightly abandon this agreement.”

“We understand that relevant parties may have different concerns but first of all the comprehensive nuclear deal should be properly implemented,” he added.

At the same time, China hopes other parties respect Iran’s legitimate lawful rights and interests, Wang said.

On May 8, exactly a year after the US pulled out from the JCPOA, Iran revealed countermeasures to US’ withdrawal, giving the other remaining parties to the JCPOA 60 days to comply with their commitments, particularly those regarding Iran’s economic interests in the banking and energy sectors, before reducing portions of its own commitments to the agreement stage by stage.

Iran says its decision to reduce commitments to the JCPOA, given the current status of the deal, is within its rights under the agreement, and any time the other sides to the agreement begin meeting the country’s demands, the Islamic Republic will resume its suspended commitments.

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As reported, the conference was attended by officials and ambassadors from Palestine, China, Cuba, Iraq, Nicaragua, Russia, Venezuela and Syria.

In their remarks addressing the conference, all the foreign representatives condemned the US unilateral measures including the imposition of sanctions against Iran or the withdrawal from international treaties, confirming that such behavior will attenuate international laws and threaten international peace and security.

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He highlighted the need to collectively address the alarming unilateralism of the current US administration, saying that the “imposition of the will of a single power over all other nations is an existential threat” for everyone.

Unless we align our capabilities to secure multilateralism, a rising and aggressive unilateralist wave can cover the entire world, quickly replacing the rule of law with the rule of the jungle, he stressed.

The full text of his speech is as follows:

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Mr. Chairman,

It is a great privilege to participate in this important forum of our Dialogue. Allow me to take this opportunity to first express my appreciation to the government and people of the State of Qatar for organizing this event in their marvelous capital of Doha, and for their gracious hospitality.

Distinguished Friends;

Since 2002, we have worked together as the community of Asian Cooperation Dialogue and have exhibited the spirit of amity in pursuit of a prosperous, functional and inclusive multilateral framework. The Islamic Republic of Iran views the Dialogue as a significant achievement of our continent, and is determined to promote its lofty values and develop its practical agendas envisioned in the ACD Vision for Asian Cooperation 2030, the ACD Blueprint for 2017 -2021, and the ACD Summit Declarations.

Embracing the aspirations of our peoples for a peaceful and prosperous region, my country has utilized all its capacities and advantages in national, regional and international arenas to move towards Pan-Asian Cooperation 2030 and building the Asian Community. In this regard and as the “Prime Mover of Culture and Tourism”, we have initiated and implemented various programs, events and projects to foster mutual understanding among our nations and to make Asia a prime, sustainable tourist destination: They include organizing a grand festival celebrating Hamadan as Asian Capital of Tourism (ACT), and conducting various cultural activities through the ACD Cultural Center in Tehran.

The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the North-South and East-West transit corridors—along with a well-developed transportation infrastructure—plays a crucial role in connecting members of our community to other regions and contributing to the “Pillar of Connectivity” of our forum. Conclusion of various transit agreements, including the Agreement on International North- South Transit Corridor, Ashkhabad International Transit Agreement and Chabahar Trilateral Agreement, along with bilateral arrangements, are all among the instruments that are promoting our shared target of connectivity.

Moreover, building upon our experience of hosting the Asian Clearing Union, a similar financial mechanism will become operational within the D-8 Organization to facilitate financial transactions between member states utilizing national currencies. We believe that the same arrangement can be adopted by the ACD in order to create institutional connectivity for an enabling business environment, and to reduce administrative and regulatory business roadblocks.

Asian culture is imbued with noble values such as moderation, wisdom, inclusiveness, and peaceful co-existence. Our cooperation for the promotion of human prosperity and dignity affects not only Asian politics but reverberates in global politics through various multilateral arrangements.

For example, multilateral mechanisms such as ECO, D-8, IORA, ASEAN, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and SAARC can help promote the ACD’s objectives; individually or in an inter-agency context.

For ACD to play its constructive role and materialize its objectives, a functional, professional and well-represented Secretariat is of vital importance. As such, a working group of interested member states should be established to discuss ways and means of strengthening ACD through reform or restructuring.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our continent in general and West Asia and the Persian Gulf region in particular are undergoing crises caused primarily by the lack of inclusive regional dialogue coupled with short-sighted adventures and the aggressive unilateralism of the current U.S. administration.

To address dialogue deficiency, I have for some time proposed the establishment of a Regional Dialogue Forum in the Persian Gulf. Every player in our region should understand that we are neighbors forever, and that the only way to secure peace and prosperity is through the recognition of a common destiny. And an acceptance that inclusive multilateral dialogue is the only way out of the current multidimensional crises facing us all.

We also need to collectively address the alarming unilateralism of the current US administration. The imposition of the will of a single power over all other nations is an existential threat—sooner or later—for everyone. Unless we align our capabilities to secure multilateralism, a rising and aggressive unilateralist wave can cover the entire world, quickly replacing the rule of law with the rule of the jungle.

Distinguished friends;

Let me assure you that in the relentless pursuit of dialogue and multilateralism, Iran will always be a steadfast partner.

Thank you for your attention.

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 Iran’s UN envoy Es’hagh Al Habib said Mon. that the core problem of nuclear disarmament is unilateralism, in particular the unilateral nuclear actions and policies of the United States.

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 Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Hossein Zolfaghari has criticized the US government for not abiding by its commitments to International agreements while threatening other countries.

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