Zarif: Iranians Distrust US

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said many of his country mates don’t see the US as a trustworthy partner.

“The polls in Iran show that while many people want an (nuclear) agreement, there is a wide public distrust of the US,” Zarif said, addressing the US academics at the University of New York on Wednesday.

During the gathering, he was also asked about the western media allegations that Tehran sends weapons to Yemen and interferes in the country’s internal affairs.

Zarif dismissed the allegations, and said, “Yemen should only be administered by the Yemenis. No one but the Yemenis can run their country.”

In relevant remarks in November, Iranian Parliament Vice-Speaker Hassan Aboutorabi Fard said the nuclear talks between Tehran and the six world powers displayed to everyone that Tehran’s distrust in the US is based on realities.

“A lesson learned from the nuclear negotiations is that the US is untrustworthy in a real sense of the word for different reasons,” Aboutorabi Fard said, addressing an open session of the parliament in Tehran.

“How can we trust the statesmen who victimize the national interests of the US nation and other world nations for the illegitimate interests of a number of Zionists,” he added.

Also in the same month, a high-ranking Iranian military commander condemned the US cruelties and animosities towards Iran, and said Tehran couldn’t trust Washington.

“Most of the Muslim world’s problems are the result of the arrogant and expansionist performance of the hegemonic powers, headed by the US, and the tragedies that Islamic countries have faced, are so much that we cannot have even an iota of trust in the Americans,” Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said in Tehran.

Reminding the US disloyalty to its promises to Iran in the past, he said, “It is obvious that from now on, we will not have even an iota of trust in the promises of the hegemonic powers.”