US must drop ‘illusion of Iran’s unconditional surrender’
The 63rd Pugwash Conference, titled ‘Eighty Years After the Atomic Bombings: A Time for Peace, Dialogue, and Nuclear Disarmament,’ is underway in Hiroshima, Japan, from November 1 to 5. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif delivered the keynote speech on the third day of the event, urging the United States to let go of the notion of Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and to move toward “genuine negotiations.” Zarif emphasized that any lasting solution requires treating Iran not as a “permanent threat to be contained,” but as “an equal partner in global affairs, with legitimate interests and a valuable stake.”
Below are excerpts from his address:
Over the past three decades, Iran’s nuclear program has been interpreted through two dominant lenses. Its adversaries have portrayed it as a covert attempt to produce nuclear weapons. Others, have viewed Iran’s activities as a legitimate pursuit of advanced technology that has never reached a weapons threshold. Both narratives, are built on a false premise that Iran’s nuclear program is ultimately aimed at producing a weapon. Four decades of sanctions, cyberattacks, and assassinations of scientists have neither forced Iran into capitulation nor pushed it toward weaponization. Even the recent unprovoked aggression by two nuclear powers failed to alter this reality. It is hoped that the United States has drawn two key lessons from its failed collaboration with Israel in this aggression. First, the assault achieved none of its objectives, as Israel ignored the fact that Iranians always unite in the face of invasion and defend their country. The conflict also proved that Iran has both the capability and the will to inflict serious damage on two nuclear powers.
The second lesson the United States must grasp is that Iran’s nuclear capabilities, contrary to Trump’s delusions, cannot be destroyed.
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