🔸 Zarif: Listening carefully and listening to the other side's words can prevent arguments
🔹 Zarif criticized the rule of monologue on social and political interactions and stated: Our other fundamental problem is that we do not listen; we all prefer to speak rather than listen, while not listening humiliates humanity. Religious texts also clearly refer to this fact; where it says, do they have ears to hear or do they have a heart to reason and understand? We have heard many times the proposal to be pushed into the status of a gift, but we have paid less attention to this premise that not listening and lack of understanding is the beginning of this fall. Unfortunately, we are not used to listening, and in our culture, listening to others is considered a kind of disrespect.
In negotiations, the upper hand belongs to whoever listens more and understands the opponent's concerns based on four decades of professional diplomacy, the former foreign minister stated on techniques for success in international negotiation: My experience in negotiation processes proves that a successful activist is one who speaks less and listens more; because the listener carefully observes the concerns, anxieties, and true priorities of the other side. When you have correctly heard and identified the other party's concern, you can design a mechanism to resolve that concern in a way that involves the least honorable and material cost for your country.
Referring to the mistake caused by diplomatic deafness, he added: When you do not listen, the illusion is created that to achieve satisfaction or remove the other side's threat, you must make excessive concessions and give up your core assets; while you will find out what is vital to him through careful listening, it may not have much cost and strategic value for you.
Listening can turn zero-sum disputes into win-win games 🔹 Recalling the famous game theory fable on separating conflicting interests from complementary interests, Zarif noted: I have often referred to the fable of dividing an orange when describing zero-sum, positive, or negative games; two sides may fight bitterly over possessing an orange, while in reality, one needs the core of the orange for consumption, and the other wants its peel for other uses. Seemingly, both demand the same thing, but the nature of their needs is different.
The former foreign minister emphasized in conclusion: Only through listening can one understand how to discover non-conflict solutions and overcome crises without giving up vital interests before entering hostilities and destructive clashes.