Zarif Criticizes Ahmadinejad for Calling International Resolutions 'Paper Waste'

Iran's Foreign Minister stated that if officials from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government had better understood the concept of 'paper waste', the country's assets would not have been 'plundered' and 'domestic profiteers' would not have 'raided' these assets. In a report on Saturday, April 28, from the official Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed regret over the 'specific' policies of the previous government that intensified sanctions against Iran during the fourth Iran-Europe business and banking conference. According to Zarif, one of the results of these 'specific' policies was the transfer of $35 billion in a 'specific process' to places where only 'part of it was revealed in the economic corruption case' to the public. The Foreign Minister did not provide further details about this 'specific process'. He also referred to the confiscation of about $2 billion and the seizure of $1.5 billion from the Central Bank's resources by the United States, adding that if the country's managers [under Ahmadinejad's government] had acted with 'wisdom', such events would not have occurred. Officials from Hassan Rouhani's government have repeatedly cited Ahmadinejad's administration and its foreign policy as one of the factors that intensified sanctions against the Islamic Republic over the past four years. In June 2015, the Iranian President stated that 'some did not understand what these sanctions were and did not realize that they were like a fever that turns into a severe illness.' Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, repeatedly referred to UN Security Council resolutions against Iran as 'used tissues', 'paper waste', and 'legally worthless' during his presidency. Throughout his eight years in office, he took positions that current government officials believe led to the intensification of 'problems' and 'international sanctions' against the Islamic Republic. Officials from the eleventh government have stated that the gradual impact of the 'JCPOA' agreement is becoming evident and that Iran's situation has 'largely' returned to conditions before the sanctions. Zarif reiterated this point at today's conference, adding that 'under the JCPOA, the chains that had been placed on the banking system due to nuclear sanctions have been loosened.' He further stated that prior to the signing of the 'JCPOA', Iran's financial market, which includes money, capital, and insurance as one of the main infrastructures of the country during the nuclear crisis, was under unfair attacks. According to him, after the signing of this agreement and the emergence of its effects, 'some who themselves caused these difficulties for the country are now meticulously trying to deny realities and present them in a distorted manner.' It seems that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is one of the individuals Zarif is referring to, who in 2013, contrary to his previous statements, remarked that 'some denied the impact of international sanctions on the country from the beginning.'