Defense Minister Dismisses US Claim to Cut Iran Oil Exports to Zero as “Impractical”


Defense Minister Dismisses US Claim to Cut Iran Oil Exports to Zero as “Impractical”

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami dismissed as impractical the US claim about cutting Iran’s oil exports to zero, saying Tehran will utilize all means to support Iranian nation’s interests.

“We believe that the non-humanitarian dreams of the U.S regime to harm the interests and welfare of the Iranian nation, claiming to cut the oil export of Iran to zero is impractical in the present global condition, but I hereby emphasize that the welfare of our nation is part and parcel of our critical interests and I regard it our right to utilize all our legal instruments, including the defense instrument to support these interests and confront the U.S economic terrorism,” Hatami said, addressing the Eighth Moscow Conference on International Security on Wednesday.

Brigadier General Hatami has traveled to Russia to attend the conference at the official invitation of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has organized the annual conference in Moscow on April 23-25, 2019.

The full text of the address is as follows:

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;

At the outset, I would like to express my gratitude toward General Sergey Shoygu, the distinguished defense minister of the Russian Federation and appreciate his efforts in holding this conference.

This conference, having an effective perception of the international sensitive situation, focuses on the most important security challenge of the region. Therefore the expectation is to bring about fruitful results concerning international security.

Honorable chairman,

Distinguished participants;

In my speech at the 7th Moscow Conference, while referring to the change in the global power structures based on trends, I put an emphasis on the issue of transfer of global power from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere.

These changes and transfer of power, is facing resistance on the part of traditional powers and specifically the Western powers, and they are incapable to change their perceptions, including the security perception.

If the perception of actors on the issue of security is not a correct one driven by realistic perspective and perception of the reality, hoping peace and security in the world would be in vain. The "security of arrogance", "egotistic security", "profit-driven security", and the "security imposed on nations" are from among characteristics of the security perception, that have gradually been tried to be imposed on the world order after the Second World War.

Sanctions and threatening, imposing the will, blackmailing and occupying, cruelty and injustice are products of such a perception of security, the consequences of which are racism, tyranny, ethnic and religious extremism as well as terrorism.

Taking into account some of the global changes, I believe that the history is being repeated.  The west has once encountered the fatal repercussions of condescension towards racism, egocentrism and falling victim of millions of the European citizens in the Second World War, and today another format of Nazism or National Socialism is manifested in Trumpism. Accompanying such a trend, keeping silent, and getting into "No-Action" condition and "lack of decision-making", hoping issues to get resolved through time is naive and misplaced optimism. This manner of conduct not only is not an appropriate option in such circumstances, but it also encourages egocentrism and impudence of the White House officials. The continuum of this approach could lead the world towards an unfortunate clash. It is time now to prevent the emergence of another Hitler in the international arena.

 

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;

 

The ISIS is a product of profit-driven perception and commercializing security. Through mobilization of the armed forces of the governments and nations of Syria and Iraq and due to their sacrifices, as well as the unsparing and full-scale support of Iran and Russia, the ISIS lost its territories and the efforts paid by the U.S to manage this field and to keep them in the battlefields for 2 or 3 decades for which they had planned, led nowhere, and they had no other way but to announce the fall of ISIS, but the injustice, arrogance, despotism and occupation is not yet over; and these are the factors that have promoted emergence of schools of thought for extremism and terrorism.

In my speech at the 7th Moscow Conference, while pinpointing some instances of the roots of insecurity in the region, I mentioned that we are still far away from destruction of this mindset.  Many of the factors that have been influential in development of insecurity and instability are now posing obstacle against the process of providing security and reconstruction.

I hereby denounce the Sri Lanka bombings and killing of innocent people like the massacre of innocent people carried out recently in New Zealand’s mosques, and I regard the extremists pretending and claiming to be Muslims and the extremist racists responsible for such attacks as two sides of the same coin.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I would like to draw your attention to the impacts of the serious changes in the West Asian region, beginning from 1979- that is to say from collapse of the dependent and dictator regime in Iran and installation of a religious democratic system instead:

- Halting the expansionistic trend of the Zionist racist occupiers;

-  Raising awareness of people of the region of their basic rights;

- Starting the trend of independence seeking;

- Getting back to religion and belief of nations that they have the right and ability to determine their own destination.

Acceleration in withdrawal of colonialists from the region is from among the effects of these changes which are related to the idea of transfer of power that I referred to at the begging of my speech.  All these herald a bright and promising future for the region, but the obstacles are still noteworthy: cruelty and injustice in the international system and dominance of some of the tyrannies supported by Western powers especially the U.S still exists in the region. Although awareness of nations have been raised and the deception mask of the dictator regime of the U.S has been torn off, and this has boosted hopes for termination of the injustice, nevertheless the conservative manner of most governments towards unilateral and cruel measures taken by Trump and even partnership of some of these countries with him depicts the fact that there still exists a long way for establishment of a desirable system. The occupation of Palestine and oppression of its people by Zionist regime is still continuing; the Takfiri so-called Silent Cores in Iraq are still considered a threat against the security of this country. In Syria, the interventionist players such as the U.S, the Zionist regime and some European countries are an obstacle for realization of peace and complete security in this country, and while these two countries demand reconstruction, the massacre of oppressed and innocent people of Yemen is still continued by the occupying forces. Afghanistan is still dealing with unrest and leading the ISIS to this country has complicated the security condition of this country more. The self-interestedness of some Western countries, has turned the region of the Persian Gulf and specifically its southern  region into an arsenal.

Subsequent to termination of presence of the ISIS in Iraq and their elimination in most part of Syria, reconstruction of these countries has been launched and the nation and government of the Islamic republic of Iran will stand by them in this phase, as well.

The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the issues and problems of the region could be resolved via dialogue and Iran emphasizes improving relationship with all neighboring countries based on principles of interactive security and its foreign policy.

Although the cruel sanctions by  the U.S and its terrorist measures against our country’s economy has inflicted great harms to the normal lives of the Iranian nation, which they will never forget, nonetheless not only this condition has caused no damage to their determination in pursuing their holy aspirations, but it has also strengthened the internal solidarity and integration with the removal of the deception mask off the face of the U.S regime, especially in the crisis of recent devastating floods in our country.

As the minister of defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran I announce that we will not give up on providing security for the Iranian nation and protecting independence and national sovereignty, despite the prattle uttered by the U.S regime and some European governments, that won’t stand gaining the defense power by Iran, and we will follow up with our procedure to strengthen our defense power in the framework of the active deterrence doctrine.

We believe that the non-humanitarian dreams of the U.S regime to harm the interests and welfare of the Iranian nation, claiming to cut the oil export of Iran to zero is impractical in the present global condition, but I hereby emphasize that the welfare of our nation is part and parcel of our critical interests and I regard it our right to utilize all our legal instruments, including the defense instrument to support these interests and confront the U.S economic terrorism.

Exellencies;

I deem it necessary to express my sorrow for the silence and accompaniment of some of the governments and international assemblies towards norms violation and measures taken by the irresponsible regime of the U.S in their contradiction with internationally approved law and principles some of which I already counted. I warn that this silence and their accompany will not just entangle West Asian people, but it could lead the world facing severe repercussions such as the ones experienced in the Second World War, and remorse serves no good afterwards. Making an arbitrary list of the countries and their legal organizations as well as the groups standing against the arrogance of American policy and designating them as sponsors of terrorists or terrorists by the U.S, among which freedom-seeking countries and fighter groups exist, is a shameless and racist measure. It is simple for the awakened humanitarian conscience to understand this reality that the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most pioneering organization in fight against terrorism in the West Asian region, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, as victim of terrorism will never let its iron will of preserving independence and aiding freedom-seeking nations weaken, and the opposition of the U.S as the largest leading state sponsor of terrorism with these groups is comprehensible. The U.S regime should know that the IRGC is strong and the time has come for the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) terrorist group which has a lot of blood of thousands of innocents in the region on their hands to leave the region, and if they take any reckless action, they will face an extremely strong reaction.

Due to the fact that the birthplace and origin of terrorism’s school of thought in our region is rooted in Saudi Arabia, I recommend them not to let their name get recorded in history beside the name of their American supporters by their supporting terrorism and sending terrorists all over the world, as well as killing the innocent and oppressed people in Yemen. I recommend the Saudi Arabians to review and revise their policies and return back in the embrace of the world of Islam.

In conclusion, I once again thank General Sergey Shoygu, his honorable colleagues and the organizers of this important and valuable conference, and I hope that this route brings about expected outcomes in realizing regional security.

Thank You

 

Most Visited in Politics
Top Politics stories
Top Stories