UNSC Meeting A ‘Foreign Policy Blunder’ for Trump: Zarif

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described a recent UN Security Council's emergency meeting on protests against high prices in some Iranian cities as a “foreign policy blunder” for US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Last week, peaceful protests over rising prices and economic problems broke out in some Iranian cities, but the unauthorized gatherings turned violent after a number of opportunists, some of them armed, vandalized public property and launched attacks on police stations and government buildings.

Siding with the rioters, a number of US officials, including Trump and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, did their best to hype up the unrest by trying to take the issue to the UN.  

On Friday, the UNSC held an emergency meeting at the request of the United States to discuss the protests. Washington, however, found itself at odds with its European partners, who used the hard-won debate to reject American efforts to make the protests an excuse for ditching the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Zarif took to Twitter on Friday and said the meeting was a “foreign policy blunder” for Trump’s administration.

“The UNSC rebuffed the US' naked attempt to hijack its mandate. Majority emphasized the need to fully implement the JCPOA and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration".

Iranian security officials say they have hard evidence that the protests there were directed from abroad.

Officials say many rioters arrested in the unrest have been trained by the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) or had links with the Takfiri groups.

Following the unrest, people of Iran held several demonstrations across the country to condemn the violent riots and acts of vandalism, and voice support for the Islamic Republic’s Establishment.

Iranian officials maintain that people have the right to stage protests to express their opinions, as long as rallies comply with the legal conditions.

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