TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on Saturday for a global shift away from militarism and intervention, stressing that West Asian security must be shaped by regional countries themselves and warning that the world stands before a “historic and civilizational choice.”
Araghchi delivered a speech to the virtual Global Town Hall 2026 forum, entitled “Calling for a Global U-Turn: Recentering Development, Reclaiming Humanity, Restoring Justice in a Crazi(er) World” and hosted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI).
He said the fundamental question facing the international community is how a system established to prevent war has become “so powerless today in the face of aggression, the slaughter of civilians, and the blatant violation of international law.”
“The answer must be sought in a bitter reality,” he said. “Decades of foreign intervention, military pressure, and endless wars in the Middle East have proven an undeniable truth. Military intervention does not create security, and the exertion of pressure and coercion does not lead to peace.”
Instead, he said, war has been normalized as a primary instrument of international relations, leading to “perpetual confrontation and conflict.”
Araghchi described the tragedy of Gaza and “the ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli regime” as among the clearest manifestations of this failed pattern.
“What is taking place in Gaza is not merely a humanitarian tragedy. It is a test of the conscience and collective responsibility of the international community,” he said.
“The slaughter of civilians, forced displacement, collective punishment, and the destruction of vital infrastructure, having gone without effective accountability, have extended to Lebanon as well.”
He warned that a dangerous pattern has taken shape in which military force is no longer used as a last resort but has become “a permanent mechanism for redesigning the political and security landscape of the region.”
“Under such circumstances, aggression becomes normalized, escalation becomes institutionalized, and destruction turns from a consequence of war into an instrument for advancing political goals,” he said.
Araghchi said the military aggression of the United States and
the Israeli regime against Iran is “understandable within this very framework, a war that was illegal, unjust, aggressive and unprovoked.”
He described it as part of a broader pattern of unpunished aggressions, including targeted assassinations of Iranian officials, threats against political authorities, violation of national sovereignty, and impunity for aggressive actions.
“If these are not met with an effective response from the international community, they will gradually erase the prohibited boundaries of international law,” he warned. “Such policies will yield no result other than the tragedy of the killing of 168 innocent students in Minab.”
He stressed that the victims of such crimes “are not merely numbers among the statistics of war casualties. Behind each of these lost lives, there was a family, a future, and the life.” He asked: “How far? When do we say enough is enough?”
Turning to the systemic failures of global governance, Araghchi criticized double standards in international law and human rights.
“If international law is disregarded whenever the interests of major powers dictate, one can no longer speak of the rule of law,” he said.
“If human rights are an inherent right for some nations and a conditional privilege for others, they can no longer be called universal. If international institutions, including the United Nations, cannot stand up against aggression and hold accountable the violators of international law, it is only natural that the credibility and legitimacy of these institutions will be damaged.”
Yet, he said, “the solution is not the abandonment of multilateralism. On the contrary, today’s world needs genuine, effective, and just multilateralism more than ever before.”
Araghchi called for a “global turnaround” requiring the political will and courage to alter the current trajectory: “from militarism toward sustainable development, from interventionism toward respect for national sovereignty, from collective punishment toward the protection of civilians, from selective accountability toward universal justice, and from endless wars toward the lasting peace.”
He said the world needs a new paradigm in which “development is regarded as part of security; the sovereignty of countries is respected; international law is applied equally and without discrimination to all; and no political, strategic or geopolitical interest is given priority over human lives.”
On West Asia, Araghchi was unequivocal: “Sustainable security cannot be dictated from outside the region. Regional security must belong to the region itself. The countries of the region must be able to discuss their security, stability, development and common future and find their own solutions without the intervention of foreign powers.”
He said this is not merely a theoretical view for Iran but “the result of a historical experience and a lesson for which the Iranian nation has paid a heavy price.”
“We believe sustainable security is achieved through dialogue, confidence-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 said.
Araghchi said the international community stands before a historic and civilizational choice.
“We can continue down this very path, the path of militarism, intervention, confrontation, and endless wars. Or we can have the will and courage to change course. We can place development back at the center of attention. We can prioritize human dignity over power calculations. We can remove justice from monopoly and selectivity. And we can once again restore real meaning and credibility to international law.”
“This is the very fundamental turnaround that today’s world needs, and its time is neither tomorrow nor in an uncertain future,” he said. “Its time is now.”