Can't always throw the ball in the other's court, says Iranian FM

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, on Wednesday, put forth that the blame game had to cease between the west and "us" with regard to terrorism.

"We cannot expect the West to provide us with all the remedies nor can we blame it for all our maladies. Our region, or however we choose to define is seen as the locus of many global problems, namely terrorism. It is easy for us to blame the West, as it is equally easy for them to blame us. But the situation is far too serious for a game of blame," Zarif said during his ministerial address at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.

Zarif further stated that "there is a lot of blame to go around", adding that this habit needs to be broken. "We need to break the habit of always throwing the ball in the other's court. It is high time for the countries in our region to abandon two illusions - security can be brought and security can be achieved at the expense of insecurity of others."

Citing a "danger of miscalculations" arising out of the transitional world order, Zarif opined that the West no longer controls or even influences significant incidents elsewhere. "The emerging global order is post-Western. The West as a geographic or political construct does not possess a monopoly over all consequential global developments," he stated.

He also talked about India and Iran's partnership in connectivity at the event, where he called for "homegrown" territorial stability in the region that has seen "war in the last four decades".

Zarif called for an independent Persian-Gulf region, devoid of foreign influence. "We need a strong region rather than the dominance of strong men in our region...The era of global and regional hegemony is long-gone," he outlined.

"We can start with a regional dialogue particularly in the Persian-Gulf region which has been the scene for so many wars in the last four decades, from Saddam Hussein's aggression against Iran and then later Kuwait, to US operations and finally to the humanitarian nightmare in Yemen today," he suggested.

"We in Iran have been forced into a privileged position on relying solely on our own people for progress...while welcoming opportunity through global interaction," he said in a veiled reference to the sanctions imposed by the United States on the nation.

Zarif also pushed for dialogue at the conference and said, "Dialogue brings with it equal footing...as it is a process through which we accept as much we want to be accepted. The weakest are accorded privilege to be listened to and the strongest finds it necessary to explain its case to others."

The Foreign Minister met with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday before his address. He is now scheduled to emplane for Iran, bringing his official three-day visit, which started on January 7, to an end.