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Liberman and Zarif. (photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM,REUTERS)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said Sunday that Iran would never seek to build a nuclear weapon, taking an apparent shot at Israel for being the true nuclear-armed actor endangering the region.

Without naming Israel specifically, Zarif said at the Munich Security Council that there were certain non-members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty who were spreading accusations about the Iranian nuclear threat.

"They have the audacity" to talk about the Iranian nuclear threat when they are "the destabilizing force in the region," Zarif said.

"We will never produce nuclear weapons, period," Zarif said. The Iranian foreign minister added that Iran had committed to this in the nuclear deal signed with world powers, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but has yet to receive the reciprocal fulfilling of the deal from the other side. "The international community still owes us," Zarif stated.

In apparent response to US President Donald Trump's comments that he was putting Iran "on notice" over ballistic missile tests last month, Zarif stated that, "We do not respond well to threats."

Zarif said that under so-called "crippling sanctions," intended to curb Iran's construction of centrifuges for enriching uranium, Iran had gone from having 200 centrifuges to having some 20,000 centrifuges.

"We don't respond to threats, we respond to mutual respect," Zarif said.

Republican US Senator Lindsay Graham, speaking on a panel at the conference immediately after Zarif, said that not a word the Iranian foreign minister was saying should be believed.

"They've been trying to build a nuclear weapon," Graham said. "If they say they haven't, they're lying."

"You don't build a secret nuclear facility if you don't want to build a nuclear weapon," he added.

Graham said that Iran was "a bad actor in the greatest sense of the word when it comes to the region," calling Tehran out specifically for supporting Hezbollah and writing "Death to Israel" on its missiles.

"I think it it is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what theyve done outside the nuclear program," Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee stated.

Graham said he and other Republicans would introduce measures to hold Iran accountable for its actions.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was originally supposed to speak on the same panel as Zarif, however the event was changed and he spoke later in the day after the Iranian foreign minister.

The defense minister accused Iran of trying to undermine stability in every country in the Middle East.

Liberman called the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani, "the number one terrorist in the world."

Liberman said that Israel has not seen more moderate behavior from Iran since the signing of the JCPOA. To the contary, he stated, since the signing of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Israel has seen: a competition organized in Tehran for the best Holocaust denial cartoon, with a prize of $50,000; parades in Tehran featuring ballistic missiles with Hebrew inscriptions, reading 'Israel must be wiped out'; a State Department report finding that Iran is the number one state sponsor of terror in the world; Iranian development of ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231; the persecution of Iran's ethnic and religious minorities; and 600 executions in 2016, often with little or no due process of law.

The defense minister said that the Iran nuclear deal was "an attempt to avoid reality," and we were seeing similar results to what the nuclear deal with North Korea has yielded.

He called for world powers to enforce a policy of economic pressure, tough policy and following through on UN resolutions, such as in the case of Iran carrying out ballistic missile tests.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister also accused Tehran of being the main sponsor of terrorism in the world and a destabilizing force in the Middle East.

"Iran remains the single main sponsor of terrorism in the world," Adel al-Jubeir told delegates at the Munich Security Conference. "Its determined to upend the order in Middle East ... (and) until and unless Iran changes its behavior it would be very difficult to deal with a country like this."

Al-Jubeir said Iran was propping up the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, funding the Houthi separatists in Yemen and violent groups across the region. He said the international community needed to set clear "red lines" to halt Iran's actions.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Zarif takes apparent shot at Israeli 'audacity,' says Iran will never develop nukes - Jerusalem Post Israel News

The United States will stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons that can be used against it or Israel, Vice President Mike Pence told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, just days after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.

Under President [Donald] Trump, the US will remain fully committed to ensuring that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon capable of threatening our country [or] our allies in the region, especially Israel, Pence said.

The issue of Irans threat to the region, Israel and the US was a priority in the series of high-level meetings held in Washington last week, as Netanyahu made his first visit to the Capitol since Trump was inaugurated last month.

Netanyahu plans to brief the cabinet about his trip at its weekly meeting on Sunday, before he departs for Australia.

While in Washington, Netanyahu spoke with Trump, Pence and congressmen about the dangers of Irans nuclear program and his belief that the deal the Obama administration and five other world powers worked out with Tehran in 2015 to curb its nuclear capacity doesnt mitigate that threat.

While the Obama administration had dismissed Netanyahus concerns, Trump and his administration are supportive.

Just before landing in Israel on Friday, Netanyahu told reporters on the plane that Israels strategic security interests in the region will be improved as a result of his three-day trip to Washington.

There is a joint strategic understanding and deep friendship, Netanyahu said of his conversation with Trump on Wednesday. The two men have known each other since the 1980s.

It was an excellent meeting.

It will have a large impact on our security, said Netanyahu, adding that under the Trump administration US-Israel ties, which are already strong, will be vastly improved.

Netanyahu said there will be joint follow-up meetings between his staff and members of the Trump administration on the issues that were raised during his trip. Aside from Iran, there were also security discussions on Syria, ISIS and terrorism.

In his weekly address to the American people on Friday, Trump said, The United States also reaffirmed our unbreakable bond this week with our cherished ally, Israel.

It was an honor to welcome my friend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.

I affirmed to the prime minister Americas commitment to working with Israel and our allies and partners toward greater security and stability. The threat of terrorism and believe me, it is a threat must be confronted and defeated, and we will defeat it.

We share with Israel a deep conviction that we must protect all innocent human life, Trump said.

In an interview with Fox News before leaving Washington on Thursday, Netanyahu said the meeting with Trump was an historic one, best described as a meeting of the minds and of the hearts.

Israel and the US always had a strong alliance, Netanyahu said, but now we have an even stronger alliance.

There is a change coming to the Middle East when it comes to Israels relationship with its neighbors due to the rise of radical Islam, with ISIS leading radical Sunnis and Iran leading radical Shiites, Netanyahu said.

The moderate Arab world is threatened by both, Netanyahu continued, as he explained that these countries view Israel as a country with a strong military that can stand against these threats, particularly Irans quest for hegemony in the region.

As a result, they do not view us as their enemy but increasingly they see us as their ally against a common threat, the prime minister said. In my conversation yesterday with President Trump, he saw things in the same way and that opens up opportunities, he added.

With regard to the nuclear deal with Iran, Netanyahu said Iran has become more dangerous since it was signed, is better funded and has sponsored more terrorism.

Now they are going to build ICBMs that can reach the US and have the multiple warheads to do that. That is horrible, it is dangerous for America, dangerous for Israel and dangerous for the Arabs.

Everyone now understands it and there is an American president that understands, and we are talking about what to do about this common threat, Netanyahu said.

At Wednesdays joint press conference with Netanyahu, Trump said, One of the worst deals Ive ever seen is the Iran deal. My administration has already imposed new sanctions on Iran, and I will do more to prevent Iran from ever developing I mean ever a nuclear weapon.

During Netanyahus time in Washington, there were issues raised that remain unresolved, including Israeli settlement construction and a request for the US to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The US has asked Israel to hold back on settlement building. A mechanism is now being developed between the two governments, with the help of Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, to come to an agreement with regard to such activity.

In an interview with Channel 2 on Friday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said it was important to reach such an understanding with the US. He also cautioned politicians to refrain from their calls for unlimited building in Judea and Samaria, or to annex portions of Area C of the West Bank.

If someone thinks that you can apply Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria or the blocs or build indefinitely without an understanding with the White House, he is mistaken, Liberman said.

In an interview with Channel 2 on Friday, Liberman said it is important to reach such an understanding with the US. He also cautioned politicians to refrain from their calls for unlimited building in Judea and Samaria or to annex portions of Area C of the West Bank.

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Pence: Iran won't have nuclear weapons to use against US or Israel - Jerusalem Post Israel News

From the Swedish governments website:

Sweden has the first feminist government in the world. This means that gender equality is central to the Governments priorities in decision-making and resource allocation. A feminist government ensures that a gender equality perspective is brought into policy-making on a broad front, both nationally and internationally. Women and men must have the same power to shape society and their own lives. This is a human right and a matter of democracy and justice.

And then this happened.

BBC:

The Swedish government has defended its decision to have its officials wear headscarves during a trip to Iran, saying that failing to do so would have broken the law. Trade Minister Ann Linde led a business team last week and faced criticism for wearing a headscarf, or hijab.

A prominent Iranian womens rights activist and Swedish politicians have criticised the decision.

It is ruinous to what is called a feminist foreign policy said Liberal party chief Jan Bjorklund, who said Iran oppressed women through legislation.

The Swedish government should have requested that female members of the delegation should not have been required to wear a headscarf, he said, and that if the request were not granted any trade agreements should have been signed in Sweden or a third country.

But Ms Linde told the Aftonbladet newspaper that she was not willing to break Iranian law. She said that since the only other option would be to send an all-male delegation, she was required to wear a headscarf.

UN Watch has been on this story from the beginning. In one post (take the time to take a look at the photos it includes of the Swedish delegation, clad not only in headscarves, but wearing long coats indoors) UN Watch notes how Swedens female leaders ignored the recent appeal by Iranian womens right activist Masih Alinejad who urged Europeans female politicians to stand for their own dignity and to refuse to kowtow to the compulsory Hijab while visiting Iran.

By contrast:

[In] the same week as the Swedes wore their Hijabs, Tehran hosted the world competition in womens chess, a number of young female chess champions from around the world gave up their chance to win a world prize because they refused to submit to the required Hijab and Irans discrimination against women.

And then:

Trade minister Linde, who signed multiple agreements with Iranian ministers while wearing a veil, sees no conflict between her governments human rights policy and signing trade deals with an oppressive dictatorship that tortures prisoners, persecutes gays, and is a leading executioner of minors.

Swedens foreign minister Margot Wallstrom, an unimpressive, notoriously dogmatic character with an unfortunate weakness for groupthink who (naturally!) previously served as an EU commissioner, defended her colleagues collective kowtow by drawing a comparison between their wearing the hijab on a trade mission and wearing a kippah when visiting a synagogue. Thats a comparison that fails to draw a distinction between a place of worship and a nation, a distinction, of course, that Irans theocrats deny, with, it would now seem, Wallstroms support if, perhaps, only accidentally: She has something of a track record of how shall I put this clumsiness.

So what was going on here? Partly it was simply a matter of business. Follow the money: The Swedes wanted those trade deals, and if that meant selling out Irans oppressed women, that was just too bad.

But there was something else at play too. The gesture of respect by the government team to the Iranian theocracy was also a form of virtue-signaling to people back home, a message to signify their openness to customs very alien to the traditions of their native land (although, in the light of the way that Sweden ran its immigration policy in recent years, that may change), an openness that, in the end, slammed a door in the face of freedom.

I dont want to go all Godwin on you (and the comparison is very far from exact), but here, via Vice, is a story from 1938:

[o]n 14 May 1938, the English national football [soccer] team played Germany in front of 110,000 spectators at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. It was the opening game of their tour of Europe and began with a powerful political statement.

Top-ranking Nazis such as Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess and Joseph Goebbels were in attendance for the match, though Hitler himself was not present. When the German national anthem was played before the game, Englands players raised their arms to give the Nazi Heil Hitler salute.

Then as now, sport and politics were inextricably linked. The English players had been instructed before the match that they should give the salute, with the order coming direct from the Foreign Office. It was later reported that the team initially refused, only for the British Ambassador to Germany, Sir Neville Henderson, to intervene. Using FA Secretary Stanley Rous (later FIFA President) as an intermediary, Henderson told the team to give the salute for the sake of Anglo-German relations.

Just showing respect, of course.

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Iran: Sweden's 'Feminist' Government Submits - National Review

Tehran - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard is to conduct military drills next week, a senior commander announced on Saturday, despite warnings from the United States and fresh sanctions over a ballistic missile test.

"The manoeuvres called 'Grand Prophet 11' will start on Monday and last three days," General Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the force's ground units, told a news conference.

He said rockets would be used without specifying which kind.

In early February, Iran conducted drills involving short-range missiles at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.

The Islamic republic said the exercises were aimed at demonstrating Iran's "complete preparedness to deal with the threats" and "humiliating sanctions" from Washington.

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US President Donald Trump slapped fresh sanctions against Tehran's weapons procurement network following a ballistic missile test on January 29.

Vice President Mike Pence said earlier this month: "Iran would do well to look at the calendar and realise there's a new president in the Oval Office. And Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president."

New Pentagon chief James Mattis, for his part, has branded Iran "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world".

Iranian officials have rejected the threats emphasising that the missile programme is purely defensive.

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Iran in new military drills despite US warnings - News24

James Malcolm Green of Team USA and David Suynyuchkhanov of Azerbaijan walk after their match at the Freestyle World Cup in 74 kg at Imam Khomeini Sports Venue in Kermanshah, Iran, on Feb. 17, 2017.Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The applause began as Team USA walked into the crowded stadium here at the Freestyle World Cup Wrestling championships in Kermanshah, Iran. The Iranians in the crowd whooped, cheered, and began chanting the name of Jordan Burroughs, the best known athlete here.

What made this warm welcome even more extraordinary was that a week before it had looked extremely unlikely that the Americans would even be allowed to compete in the games.

When President Trump issued a visa ban for citizens of 7 majority Muslim countries, including Iran on Jan. 27, the authorities in the Islamic Republic vowed reciprocation . With just weeks to go before the championships began, Team USA prepared for the possibility that they would be unable to attend. We called in all of the athletes and told them that it was unlikely we would be able to go to Iran, Rich Bender the executive director of USA Wrestling, tells TIME. "They were all disappointed."

But that all changed drastically when the courts struck down Trumps visa ban, much to the dismay of the White House. The authorities in Iran, who have long encouraged citizen diplomacy with the U.S., quickly overturned a decision to not grant visas to Team USA. In respect to the requests by American athletes and people we decided to issue visas for the US team, said Masoud Soltanifar, Irans Sports and Youth Minister.

Now the visit has gone ahead, offering Iranians and Americans a moment of sports diplomacy amid crumbling relations between the leaders of their countries. It's not the first time freestyle wrestling, a millennia old sport in Iran and part of the national identity, has acted as a way to bring the two countries together. In fact in 1998, wrestlers were the very first U.S. athletic team that travelled to Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a development so important that they were invited to the White House by then President Bill Clinton when they returned. Since then, the United States and Iran have exchanged wrestling teams 32 times, making the sport a mainstay of people-to-people diplomacy even when the two governments were at an impasse over Irans nuclear activities.

So it was again in Kermanshah, as Iranian fans welcomed Team USA a powerhouse of the sport with gifts and flowers. The American managers and coaches were given a private tour of the Bostan Arc, an ancient ruin and major tourist attraction here, with a heavy security detail to guarantee their safety. When Burroughs approached the Iranian Sports minister to personally thank him for the visas it led to a few minutes of friendly hand-shaking, with Soltanifar telling the Team USA leader that he was happy to see him in Iran.

The welcome has been so gracious, its great being here, said Burroughs, who has more Instagram followers from the Iranian capital Tehran than any other city in the world. The reaction I get from fans here is more than what I get back in the States.

The warm welcome belies what is a difficult moment for U.S.-Iranian relations. Many thought the historic 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and 6 world powers including the United States would lead to a thawing in the historically frosty relationship. Economic and social contacts were on the rise, the promise of trade between the two countries was solidified by the deal Irans national carrier Iran Air signed with Boeing for scores of new planes.

But with the election of Donald Trump as the 45th U.S. President all bets were off . Trump promised on the campaign trail to scrap the nuclear deal , and his administration put Iran "on notice " after the country tested a missile in late January.

Authorities in Iran however hope that as time goes on Trump will develop a mellower approach. The fact that the international community, even U.S. allies are voicing their concern on Trumps policies and course of action is very important, Soltanifar said, adding that Trump is facing backlash from the whole world, and thats not sustainable. I am practically certain that he cannot continue his present course.

For the time being, relations between the United States and the Islamic Republic must be settled in the sporting arena and so it was that on Friday, Iran defeated Team USA in the final. It already looks as if the U.S. has taken reciprocal measures, of a friendlier sort. Shortly after Team USA received their visas, Irans national archery team was issued last-minute permits to attend the Las Vegas World Cup. In sports at least, the two countries can still get along.

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US Wrestlers in Iran Practice Hands-On Diplomacy - TIME