Zarif: Daesh still active worldwide

Instead, the military aggression has taken the lives of as many as 13,600 Yemenis and ruined the country’s infrastructure since its onset in March 2015.

The Iranian top diplomat also denounced the US interventionist strategies as one of the most substantive challenges, further complicating the existing circumstances in the region.

“The US is still ignorant of objective facts across the region, and insists on pursuing its destructive and tension-creating policies through its illegitimate military presence on Syrian soil,” he noted.

Zarif pointed out to the continued occupation of Palestine as the most critical issue facing the region.

“All issues are either directly or indirectly affected by this predicament, and the oppression that has been forced upon the people of Palestine over the past 70 years,” he said, and noted that Washington’s recent move to recognize Beit-ul Moqaddas as Israel’s capital was an open declaration of hostility towards Muslims and an opportunity for extremism and terrorism to spread and prevail.

He warned against any attempts at dominance by regional countries and the destabilizing impact of an escalating arms race.

Zarif noted that compared to the rest of the world, Iran’s neighbors in the Persian Gulf have the highest proportion of military budget to their gross domestic product.