India is being bullied by the US and President Trump: Iran’s Foreign Minister

The US economic sanctions have placed Iran in a very difficult situation, concedes the Iranian foreign minister Javed Zarif. Iran, he adds, has got used to be at the `receiving end of antagonism and hostility’ for 40 years.

Is he disappointed that India has stopped lifting oil from Iran ? His reply is measured but he doesn’t mince his words.

“India has taken a stand against sanctions. India has said they do not accept any sanctions except UN sanctions.”

“But we expected India to be more resilient vis a vis US pressures. The reason we expected them to reject this pressure is that if you remember, we all have had bullies in our high schools. The bullies usually start with the smallest kid in the class and then move up. The more you allow a bully to bully you the more you put yourself on the receiving end.”

While interacting with a visiting group of Indian women journalists, the minister said, “On the global arena, people believe we have to be on the right side of President Trump, but bullies never have a right side. The bully is there only to put others into submission,” he goes on to add.

Voicing his disappointment with India, Zarif points out that both China and Russia have supported Iran. “India being a great democracy, a huge country with huge potential and a huge capability, and a nuclear power as well,” he says could have refused to be bullied and adds pointedly that China has refused to be bullied by the US.

“But you are already being bullied by the US, when you don’t buy oil and petrochemical and fertilisers from us but are buying it at three times the cost from others; who pays at the end, the Indian people pay. It is your people who pay.”

“If you can’t lift oil from Iran, we will not be able to buy rice. Who pays? The Indian farmer will pay the price? So already, India is being bullied by the US,” he adds with a flourish and a smile.

Stressing on the close ties between India and Iran, Zarif points out that the two countries and civilisations have known each other through millenniums through trade and cultural exchange.

“When we come to India, we see many graves of Iranian kings. The older generation of Indians continue to speak Persian, continue to recite Hafiz and Sayeed and Rumi and other Iranian poets. We have been much more successful with our poets, mystics and merchants than with our kings. We see Indians of all religions come to their graves to pay their respect on a daily basis. These bonds are much more difficult to be broken down than political or economic alignment or short-term global changes,” the minister added.

Iran, he points out, would continue to sell oil and other countries would buy the oil and make a lot of money by selling the oil again at much higher prices to those who need the oil.

(Read the complete interview in National Herald on Sunday Epaper tomorrow)