Saeed Khatibzadeh, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), pointed to the continuation of the United States’ maximum-pressure policy and economic sanctions against Iran, stressing that the government of the Islamic Republic, by mobilizing all available capacities and with the cooperation of the heads of the three branches of government, will work to neutralize the sanctions and safeguard the country’s national interests and security. He said the Iranian nation, as in the past, would prevail in this struggle through steadfastness.
According to Habilian, citing IRNA’s foreign policy correspondent, Khatibzadeh made the remarks on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. Asked by IRNA why U.S. President Donald Trump had once again returned to a policy of maximum pressure and what the interviewer described as “economic terrorism” against the Iranian people despite the failure of that approach in the past, Khatibzadeh said: “From the perspective of diplomacy and international relations, I would first like to emphasize to the great Iranian nation that the government and the governing institutions of the Islamic Republic regard the protection of all national interests and national security as their primary duty. Regardless of the hostility our enemy or enemies direct against this nation, the government and President Dr. Pezeshkian will mobilize all their capacities, together with the heads of the three branches of government, to neutralize these sanctions.”
He continued: “The crime they are committing stems from their failure in the previous stage of the war. For years, they have tried to put the Iranian people under pressure, and unfortunately they do not even hesitate to repeat their flawed narratives in the international media. They openly say that sanctions are imposed to push the Iranian people to the point of revolt and exhaust their resilience. But we are engaged in a historic, national, patriotic, revolutionary and Islamic struggle, and, God willing, victory in this struggle belongs to those who remain steadfast. We will certainly prevail in this battle, just as we did in previous ones.”
The deputy foreign minister added: “This is the same path previous U.S. presidents followed. The foreign minister reminded everyone in a post last night that the first person who tried to bring the Iranian nation to its knees through so-called ‘crippling’ sanctions was then-U.S. President Barack Obama, whose place in history today is hardly remembered. Those committing this new crime today will also inevitably end up in the dustbin of history.”
There Is No Such Thing as ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Terrorism
Khatibzadeh continued: “Today is an important day for remembering all victims of terrorism. In my speech today, I said that the resistance front stands against a front of terror. They used to call us the ‘Resistance Front,’ but in my view the most fitting description for the camp confronting Islamic Iran is the ‘front of terror.’ They use every instrument of terror. What happened at Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab is one manifestation of that terror, which we have all witnessed. Today we also face economic terrorism, whose victims are ordinary Iranian citizens.”
He added: “Our commitment and inherent duty at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to pursue all these cases. We cannot and must not simply move past the blood of each and every child of this nation. For this reason, over the past year and several months, the Foreign Ministry has prepared hundreds of international documents concerning the new forms of terror that have emerged and submitted them to international organizations. Dr. Seraj also referred to the Human Rights Council session. There is no such thing as good terrorism and bad terrorism. The United States, the Israeli regime and some of their allies—because their hands are stained with the blood of this nation’s children and because they themselves lead what we regard as genuine international terrorism—try to prevent these cases from going anywhere, and for that reason they have made force the basis of international relations. But our promise to the Iranian people is that, God willing, the diplomatic apparatus will not allow those who have committed crimes to escape accountability.”