Iran FM says Middle East security cannot be imposed from abroad

• He argued that ignoring international law when great powers' interests demand it undermines any claim to the rule of law.
• He warned that if bodies like the UN fail to stand up to aggression and hold perpetrators accountable, their credibility and legitimacy will suffer.
• He said the world needs "multilateralism more than ever."

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that, "Sustainable security in the Middle East cannot be dictated from outside the region.”

Araghchi made the remarks in a virtual address at Indonesia's Global Town Hall 2026. He focused first on the state of international law, warning that applying it selectively empties it of meaning. "If international law is ignored when the interests of great powers demand it, then there can be no talk of the rule of law," he said. 

He added that global bodies such as the United Nations put their own standing at risk when they fail to act. If they "fail to stand up to aggression and hold perpetrators of international law accountable," he said, "it is natural that the credibility and legitimacy of these institutions will suffer."

Against that backdrop, Araghchi stressed that the world needs "multilateralism more than ever."

He also turned to the human cost of conflict. "We must accept that every war has a cost far beyond the battlefield," he said. Taxpayers foot the bill for wars, he noted, but ordinary people pay the heaviest price, in lives, blood, homes, futures and security.

Araghchi closed by setting out what he sees as the alternative to foreign involvement. "We believe that sustainable security can be achieved through dialogue, trust-building, cooperation, and mutual respect among the countries of the region, not through the military presence of foreign powers and the imposition of their will," he concluded.

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