TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called for a fundamental rethinking of security frameworks in West Asia, emphasizing that sustainable peace can only be achieved by empowering regional actors rather than relying on foreign intervention.
In an article titled “Building a new reality for the region: Toward stability, sovereignty and solidarity in West Asia,” Araghchi painted a sobering picture of mounting challenges in the region, including protracted conflicts, environmental degradation, and humanitarian crises.
He said that externally imposed security arrangements have repeatedly failed to deliver long-term stability.
“The people of this region have paid the price for policies that were drafted without their consent or participation,” he wrote.
The top Iranian diplomat said the current geopolitical disorder is rooted in decades of unresolved conflicts, worsened by foreign interference.
Araghchi warned that issues like water scarcity, refugee displacement, and economic fragility are shared threats requiring regional cooperation rather than competitive power politics.
“Security in West Asia must no longer be treated as a zero-sum game,” Araghchi stressed. “It should be a collective endeavor based on mutual respect and inclusive dialogue.”
However, he warned that no regional security architecture would be complete without addressing the role of Israel, which is destabilizing the region and operating outside international disarmament norms.
“A regime that systematically violates international law and enjoys unchecked military privilege cannot be part of any sustainable security framework,” Araghchi said, citing Israel’s nuclear ambiguity and history of regional military activity.
Araghchi called for West Asia to embrace a “homegrown paradigm of security” rooted in shared sovereignty and common prosperity, inviting global powers to support, rather than dictate, this transition.
“The future of West Asia will not be written in distant capitals,” he said. “It will be authored by the peoples of the region, based on frameworks reflecting their histories, cultures, and collective will.”