Zarif Advises Iran’s Neighbors to Seize the Opportunity, Rethink Regional Security

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in an Arabic language tweet on Thursday.

“Dear neighbors, an opportunity is available to us to rethink the issue of regional security,” the tweet read.

Relations among Iran and certain Gulf littoral states have not been faring well over the past several years amid Iranophobic posturing by those states, most notably Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The allies began drawing themselves nearer to the US following the 2016 inauguration of former US president Donald Trump, who had likewise been trying feverishly to demonize the Islamic Republic.

The Trump administration seized on the chance to clinch gigantic arms deals with those regional states.

Tehran has, however, been invariably extending an offer of negotiations with the countries of the region and warned that the region’s troubles have to be resolved through regional consensus instead of foreign interference.

Zarif likewise asserted, “As we know, such security cannot be bought with money and achieved by accumulating weapons.”

“The only way to establish security and stability is through broad regional cooperation among the countries of the region. Iran has always emphasized its readiness to activate such cooperation,” Zarif noted.

Observers say with Trump gone, the anti-Iran approaches could begin to soften if the hawkish regional officials fail to have Washington either echo or reinforce their anti-Iran stances.

In a recent interview with the Al Arabiya TV channel, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said, “Our hands are outstretched for peace with Iran.”

Even though the top diplomat dampened the statement by accusing Iran of not committing itself to agreements and not being "serious about talks with Riyadh," the apparent offer of conciliation still struck a rare tone.

Reacting to the remarks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia had apparently begun to realize that its aggressive foreign policy had been a failure and looked like it had started to revise some of its aspects. The Islamic Republic would welcome any genuine change of approach on the part of Riyadh, he added.