Zarif’s Deconstruction of “Coalition of Repentance”

Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

With a stroke of verbal genius, Iran’s resourceful foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has deconstructed the present US-led efforts at regional coalition building against the ISIS terrorists, in light of the recent Paris summit where some of the regional states that have been a financial backbone of those terrorists pledged to unite against its menace.

Given US’s stated decision to strike at the ISIS inside Syria without the prior consent of Damascus, both Iran and Russia have expressed their strong misgivings about Washington’s true motives. At the United Nations, with the issue of ISIS terrorism dominating this year’s annual General Assembly gathering, Iran feels completely exonerated of initiating the important GA resolution last year against violence and extremism. 

Citing the strong evidence of complicity of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council in providing support for the ISIS in the past, Foreign Minister Zarif has invoked the term “coalition of repentance” that is a sharp reminder of the short-sighted and self-defeating policy of these wealthy Arab states, who are now feeling the heat of being the next targets on ISIS’s list. According to Zarif, who might be heading to Saudi Arabia in the near future and who has prioritized Iran’s relations with its immediate neighbors, the threat of extremism and terrorism epitomized by ISIS’s atrocities represents a ‘clear and present danger’ to all the regional states, who need to pull their resources together in order to confront this menace, which has been described by US President Barack Obama as a “cancer.” 

In his interviews with the US media, Zarif has let known Iran’s view, on the insufficiency of US air strike, in stamping out the ISIS threat, which has the potential to prove even more destabilizing in the future, unless serious collective efforts are undertaken by the international community to prevent this unwanted development.

In line with Iran’s leading role in regional security, Iran’s delegation at the UN led by Foreign Minister Zarif are, in fact, trying to put together an alternative ‘horizontal’ coalition that is not led by an outside (Western) superpower, which harbors its own hegemonic intentions, but rather one that relies first and foremost on the significant regional resources, i.e., a ‘coalition of the locals’. Of course, an important prerequisite for this is the other states’ recognition of their past error in feeding the ISIS beast that, in the words of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, aims to “destroy humanity.”  Certainly, this group has nothing to do whatsoever with Islam and that is why a growing number of countries including France have opted to call it by its appellation “Daesh.”

With respect to Iran’s foreign policy priorities in these sensitive times, the sound and logical positions spearheaded by Foreign Minister Zarif are bound to impress many member states at the UN, thus promising a highly successful UN visit by the Iranian delegation.

*Kaveh Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of several books on Iran’s foreign policy. His writings have appeared on several online and print publications, including UN Chronicle, New York Times, Der Tagesspiegel, Middle East Journal, Harvard International Review, and Brown's Journal of World Affairs, Guardian, Russia Today, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Mediterranean Affairs, Nation, Telos, Der Tageszeit, Hamdard Islamicus, Iranian Journal of International Affairs, Global Dialogue.

Key Words: Coalition of Repentance, Mohammad Javad Zarif, ISIS Terrorists, Iran, Russia, President Hassan Rouhani, Coalition of Locals, Iran’s Foreign Policy, UN, Afrasiabi

More By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi:

*US's Janus-Faced Policy on ISIS, Syria:http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/US-s-Janus-Faced-Policy-on-ISIS-Syria.htm

*Reflections on Robert Einhorn's Open Letter to Iran: http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Reflections-on-Robert-Einhorn-s-Open-Letter-to-Iran.htm

*Can the Nuclear Talks Survive the Gaza War?: http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Can-the-Nuclear-Talks-Survive-the-Gaza-War-.htm