Tehran, Dec 31, IRNA – With the beginning of the Christian New Year (2018), the international arena distances itself from its violent and inhumane face; a wave of happy messages and congratulations is being exchanged between people, heads of countries, and the humanitarian content of messages from religious and political officials has created a glimmer of hope for changes in the present situations in international relations.
Leader of the world's Catholics Pope Francis, in his address at Christmas Eve, called on people of the world not to forget millions of people who have been forced to leave their countries. He urged more than one million Catholics all over the world to welcome refugees and treat them in a friendly manner.
The message was heart-warming and praise-worthy. It, however, was a reminder of the bitter events of 2017. The year was a strange one. In 2017, the inexperienced selfish Donald Trump took office as the president of the United States, and further drove the world developments to despotism and lack of international cooperation.
He also withdrew from Paris climate accord (Paris Agreement) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and tried his best to kill the biggest achievement of the international diplomacy, i.e. the Iran Nuclear Deal, better known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The inventory of the US and its ally, Israel's, moves didn’t finish here: in the last days of the strange year, Trump announced the Holy Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of the Zionist regime and decided to move the US embassy to the Holy Quds. The decision was the final nail in the coffin of the international law and public opinion and separated the US' path from that of other countries.
The only rebel of 2017, who was driven to isolation due to his own abnormal behavior, was not the US president; Nobel Prize winner and the leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi was harshly criticized internationally and lost her eminence, thanks to her meaningful silence against the Rohingya Muslims' genocide and displacement committed by her fellow Buddhists.
Another bitter mishap of the year was the Saudi-led Arab coalition's war against poor Yemen that has resulted in thousands of deaths, prevalence of cholera and other diseases. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's death and Yemeni missiles launched into Saudi Arabia were among the crises of the region that changed the military and political equations in the war on Yemen.
The year was also the end of the self-styled caliphate of Daesh and the isolation of extremist terrorist groups in Western Asia. But of course, it was not done with the help of the Western fictitious coalitions; Daesh was instead wiped off the region with solidarity and attempts of the Resistance forces and the triangle of Iran, Russia and Turkey.
Therefore, 2017 was the year of reinforcement of the national governments of Western Asia, in general, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, in particular, against terrorist groups. While the Arab countries of the region lost their status through purchasing tons of weapons from the West, engaging in the inhumane war on Yemen and opening the door of their countries to the Zionist regime, Iran became the number-one power of the region through moderate policies, increasing interactions with the world, and countering terrorism based on its own native-made defensive power.
Nevertheless, policies of President (Hassan) Rouhani's administration have never been based on unilateralism or countering countries of the region and of the world; as President Rouhani announced in his Christmas message, the Islamic Republic of Iran's policies in 2018 will include moving in the path of expanding peace, justice, equity, fraternity, and moderation, as well as paving the way for the authorities and followers of different religions to turn 2018 to a year of spirituality and welfare without violence and discrimination.
Writer: Mohammd-Mahdi Mazaheri
Translator: Hossein Abolqasemi
Editor: Fatemeh M. Safaei
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