Dialogue, Diplomacy Key to Inducing Regional Change

Iran’s foreign minister highlighted “dialogue and diplomacy” as key to inducing change in the status quo of the volatile West Asia region. 
“Dialogue is the basis of diplomacy, while our region faces a lack of dialogue today,” Mohammad Javad Zarif also said at the opening of the Second International Tehran Dialogue Forum held virtually on Tuesday. 
He said Iran has always sought to enhance regional dialogue, as in the Hormuz Peace Endeavor presented by President Hassan Rouhani, which calls for all regional countries and the United Nations for talks to address their differences. 
According to Zarif, it is important to identify the root causes to address the crisis in this region. 
“There are three main causes: international intervention, securitization, and [wrong] prioritization,” he said.
This region, he explained, has been the target of geopolitical plans by non-regional players for five decades, including the United States that has intensified insecurity and instability here more than in any other region. 
He cited as an example the roughly $7 trillion of US expenditure in less than two decades for continuing wars and military interventions in this region. 
“Coercive economic measures by the US against the Iranian nation, especially during a pandemic, is no less than an economic war,” he added. 
Washington has imposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran since its unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. The new administration also refuses to lift those restrictions despite claims of intending to rejoin the agreement. 
As it is obvious today, Zarif said, there is no difference between the former and incumbent presidents of the US in their pursuit of the failed policy of maximum pressure. 

A Military Region

Given its relative military superiority, the US has always sought to securitize everything to maintain its dominance, Zarif said. 
“This region is seen as a military region … which has other benefits for the US and its western allies too, and that is to stockpile all their military hardware [in the region],” he said. 
He pointed to Iran’s six Persian Gulf neighbors as an instance, saying they constitute one-fourth of the world’s arms sales with a population of less than 40 million.  
According to the foreign minister, false threats, fake enemies and artificial friends are needed for the purpose of securitization. 
As a result, priorities shift from fundamental challenges and real threats to their fake models, he added, stressing that prioritization of false security threats in this region is primarily used to delay, or if possible, completely ignore the Palestinian cause. 
Tehran Dialogue Forum hosted top political officials, research institutes and think tanks in the region to discuss the situation in the region surrounding Iran. Other speakers included the foreign ministers of Turkey, Afghanistan and Syria.