بررسی تلفظ انگلیسی دکتر محمد جواد ظریف، وزیر سابق جمهوری اسلامی

Iran has exercised restraint when Israel conducted military operations against it. Iran conducted terrorist operations, killing the leader of Hamas, who was attending the inauguration of our president. We exercise restraint; we believe that Hezbollah is capable of defending itself and has been exercising restraint in not doing so. It is the responsibility of the international community to intervene before Hezbollah has to take its defense into its own hands, or the situation may get out of hand. The Israelis have said that this offensive is to separate Hezbollah’s support for Hamas. Iran has influence with Hamas as well. Are you trying to get Hamas to agree to a ceasefire? I think Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire, but Netanyahu and the Israeli government have refused all along, even rejecting calls from the United States for a ceasefire. Who has been vetoing resolutions in the Security Council calling for a ceasefire? Has it been the supporters of Hamas or the United States supporting Israel? Even the claim that somebody needs to push Hamas to accept a ceasefire is ridiculous because everybody knows that Netanyahu depends on this war to continue to survive. Israel has conducted this war with the illusion of winning, which is impossible.

On October 7th last year, Hamas committed atrocities by invading Israel and killing civilians. I remember after the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, Hassan Nasrallah said that if he had known the result of his actions that created that war, he never would have done it. Lebanon was devastated; it was terrible. Do you think that Hamas’s actions against civilians in Israel, including children and women, were justified? Nobody supports actions against civilians, and Hamas has been on record saying that it does not support such actions. The history did not start on October 7th. The atrocities in Gaza, basically putting a huge number of people in the most populated area on earth in an open prison, have been an ongoing process. The occupation of Palestine has been going on for 70 years, and a system of apartheid in Palestine has persisted for many decades. The history did not start on October 7th, and it is not for us to decide whether the price that Palestinians are paying is worth the fight; it is for the Palestinians to decide.

If you look at the polls in Palestine, Hamas’s popularity has increased rather than decreased. There are people in Gaza who are really fed up and blame Hamas for bringing this terror upon themselves. There is a variety of opinions everywhere, but the polls indicate that the general popularity of Hamas in both the West Bank and Gaza has increased. These are the realities on the ground. The Palestinians have to decide whether it was worth it or not, but it is for the international community to end this vicious circle, which will never have a victor. Israel will never be able to win this war, and it has to recognize and understand this.