Photo taken in Iran by Emily O'Dell
When I was in Iran, I had the unique opportunity of visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs–where the diplomats with whom I spoke were very forthcoming about their foreign policy goals, and their hopes for improved relations with the United States (and no, it wasn’t just taarof).
Now, however, you don’t have to travel to Iran to access the Foreign Ministry, since Iran’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs–Mohammad Javad Zarif–is an active and accessible Facebook user. With the ongoing crisis in Syria, his page has attracted over 95,000 likes. His recent piece on Syria–posted in Persian and English–drew thousands of comments. Not surprisingly, he has connected the current “moral” outrage and call for intervention in Syria coming from Washington to the international silence and inaction on Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons attacks (sarin and mustard gas) against the Iranians. Since a military response by the United States, in his estimate, would be against international law, Zarif is in favor of negotiations to resolve the ongoing crisis about chemical weapons.
Another question he posed, as mentioned in this analysis of his Facebook page, was:
If we accept the use of force (regardless of excuses and their justifications), have we not enabled the powerful to use it whenever their interests warrant it, to kill and destroy people, to destroy their own economic resources and to fall into a trap that leads to endless terror and violence? Do you know of even one case where the powerful have accepted the heavy costs of a war for public interest or for safeguarding human rights?
To read a summary of the diverse comments posted on his Facebook page, please go here. And to keep up with all the latest–from the Iranian perspective–you might consider friending him on Facebook–like so many already have…
