Iran proposes establishing regional dialogue forum in Persian Gulf – FM

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the defeat of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) has not just heralded the return of stability to large swaths of the region. It is also fanning fresh conflict and tension, the minister wrote in the Financial Times. To move from turmoil to stability, there is the need to turn to dialogue and other confidence-building measures, he stressed. As a first step, Tehran “proposes establishing a Regional Dialogue Forum in the Persian Gulf,” Zarif said. “Our longstanding invitation to dialogue remains open, and we look forward to the day our neighbors will accept it, and their allies – in Europe and elsewhere in the West – will encourage it,” according to the minister.