Rise in Extremism Blamed on Miscalculations by Big Powers

Iran’s top diplomat said miscalculations and significant mistakes by world powers over the past decades are the prime cause of the surge in extremism in West Asia.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the statement in a speech at the Faculty of World Studies at the University of Tehran on Monday, the second part of a five-part course in international relations entitled, “World in Transition,” which is being conducted by the veteran diplomat, IRNA reported. 
“Extremism was a result of miscalculations and occupation [of regional countries by world powers]. The main problem, which evolved into the existing sad conditions, is the problem of ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘miscalculation’ caused both regional powers and superpowers to make mistakes,” he said.
Zarif noted that miscalculations made by big powers, with regard to the new world order, have resulted in consequences, which are by far more disastrous than the mistakes made by other countries.
He described the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq as one of the miscalculations, saying that there were many ambiguities surrounding the attack at its onset.
"But something was conspicuous. It was clear from the very beginning that this [US] war [against Iraq] would lead to the spread of extremism in the world," he said.
In early 2003, the United States, backed by the UK, invaded Iraq under the pretext that the regime of the former dictator, Saddam Hussein, possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons, however, were ever found in Iraq.
The invasion plunged Iraq into chaos and led to the rise of militant groups, including the self-styled Islamic State terror group, across the region.
In addition, Zarif touched on the US withdrawal from several international treaties and said such a policy is similar to “bigoted” and “obstinate” ideas that contravene the world's ground realities.
Some players on the international scene, like the United States, have struggled to take control of the situation by resorting to outdated rules and by relying on their military superiority, but their approach gave rise to a ‘disaster’, the top diplomat said.
The US under its recalcitrant president, Donald Trump, has pulled out of several international treaties despite a global outcry.
Trump, a hawkish critic of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest-ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
He has also pulled the US out of the UN cultural organization UNESCO and the Paris climate accord.