Nations at odds in Munich

The Munich Security Conference is an annual event at which nations of the world vent their anger, frustrations, and misgivings about one another. Two major flashpoints last week were North Korea and the Middle East. Intense fireworks came from the Middle East. Excerpts:
Saudi Foreign Minister, Hon. El Al-Jubeir:
“When I look at our region today, I see a challenge that emanates from Iran. I’m sure you have heard previous speakers talk about this challenge. Iran remains the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran has as part of its constitution the principle of exporting the revolution. Iran does not believe in the principle of citizenship. It believes that the Shiite, the “dispossessed”, as Iran calls them, all belong to Iran and not to their countries of origin. And this is unacceptable for us in the Kingdom, for our allies in the Gulf and for any country in the world.
The Iranians do not believe in the principle of good neighbourliness or non-interference in the affairs of others. And this is manifested in their interference in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan. The Iranians have disrespected international law by attacking embassies, assassinating diplomats, by planting terrorist cells in other countries, by harbouring and sheltering terrorists.
In 2001, when the U.S. went to war against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the board of directors of Al-Qaeda moved to Iran. Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s son, Saif el-Adel the chief of operations for Al-Qaeda and almost a dozen senior leaders went and lived in Iran. The order to blow up three housing compounds in our nation’s capital in 2003 was given by Saif el-Adel while he was in Iran to the operatives in Saudi Arabia. We have the conversation on tape, it’s irrefutable. The Iranians have blown up Khobar Towers in 1996. They have smuggled weapons and missiles to the Houthis in Yemen in violation of UN Security Council resolutions in order to lock these missiles at our country and kill our people.
And so, we look at the region and we see terrorism, and we see a state sponsor of terrorism that is determined to upend the order in the Middle East. The Iranians are the only country in the region that has not been attacked by either Daesh or Al-Qaeda. And this begs the question, why? If Daesh and Al-Qaeda are extremist Sunni organisations, you would think that they would be attacking Iran, a Shiite state. But they have not. Could it be that there’s a deal between them that prevents them or causes them not to attack the Iranians? This is a question that we keep asking ourselves…  How can one deal with a nation whose objective is to destroy us? So until and unless Iran changes its behaviour, and changes its outlook, and changes the principles upon which the Iranian state is based, it will be very difficult to deal with a country like this. Not just for Saudi Arabia, but for other countries.”
Israeli Prime Minister, the Hon. Benjamin Netanyahu: But for the Jewish people, two infamous things occurred in this city. In 1972, 11 of our Olympic athletes were massacred at the Munich airport. In many ways, this act of savagery heralded the rise of international terrorism, and we’ve all been battling it ever since. And 80 years ago, another event took place here, with far ranging consequences. A disastrous agreement was signed here that set the world on a course towards history’s most horrific war. Two decades after World War I, two decades after a war that claimed 60 million lives, the leaders who met in Munich chose to appease Hitler’s regime rather than confront it. Those leaders were noble men. They thought they were fulfilling their highest responsibility to keep the peace. But the price of their action would soon become apparent. In the wake of the Munich agreement, 60 million people would die in World War II, including a third of my own people, six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazis and their collaborators. We will never forget and we will never allow the rewriting of the historical truth.
Henry Kissinger said that Iran must choose between being a country or a cause. Well, the regime in Iran has chosen to be a cause. The commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Ali Jafari, said, we’re on the path to the rule of Islam worldwide. That means right here too.Through its proxies, Shiite militias in Iraq, the Houthies in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Iran is devouring huge swaths of the Middle East.
Now, there has been one positive consequence of Iran’s growing aggression in the region. It’s brought Arabs and Israelis closer together as never before. In a paradoxical way, this may pave the way for a broader peace and ultimately also for a Palestinian-Israeli peace. This could happen. But it will not happen if Iran’s aggression continues to grow, and nowhere are Iran’s belligerent ambitions clearer than in Syria. There Iran hopes to complete a contiguous empire, linking Tehran to Tartus, the Caspian to the Mediterranean…
It sent a drone into Israeli territory, violating Israel’s sovereignty, threatening our security. We destroyed that drone and the control center that operated it from Syria, and when our places were fired upon, Israel destroyed Syrian anti-aircraft batteries.. . And we will act, if necessary, not just against Iran’s proxies that are attacking us, but against Iran itself…Well, here’s a piece of that Iranian drone, or what’s left of it after we shot it down. I brought it here so you can see for yourself. Mr. Zarif, do you recognize this? You should. It’s yours. You can take back with you a message to the tyrants of Tehran: Do not test Israel’s resolve.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, the Hon. Mohammad Javad Zarif:
For too long, military powers have had multiple strategies to win wars. And for too long, they have ignored any strategy to win the peace. For too long, major powers and their regional allies have made the wrong choices in our region and then have blamed others, particularly Iran, for the consequences of their own short-sighted and trigger-happy strategic blunders:
From supporting Saddam Hussein’s invasion of my country in 1980 to aiding and abetting his use of chemical weapons; from the wars to evict him from Kuwait and then to remove him altogether; from first supporting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to waging a war to remove them from Afghanistan; from supporting the same brand of extremist terrorists bringing ruin to Syria to dangerously occupying parts of Syria under the guise of fighting the groups they have armed and financed; from Israel’s invasion and subsequent aggressions on Lebanon and its illegal occupation of Palestine to its routine incursions into Syrian airspace; and from the bombing of Yemen with western supplied planes. What have these actions brought the world?
The U.S. and its local clients in our region are suffering from the natural consequences of their own wrong choices. But they use this and other fora to revive the hysteria on Iran’s foreign policy and obscure its reality. But did Iran force them to make all those wrong choices as some of them ridiculously claim? Are we to blame because we were on the right side of history, fighting Saddam Hussein, Al-Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS, Nusrah and the like, while the US and company were financing, arming and supporting them?
Iran believes that our Persian Gulf region requires a fresh regional security architecture. We believe in, and have proposed, creating what we call a “strong region” as opposed to a “strong man in the region.” A strong region where small and large nations—even those with historical rivalries—contribute to stability.