Araqchi made the remarks at the conference titled “Lt. General Qassem Soleimani, Diplomacy and Resistance,” held in Tehran on Monday.
The foreign minister explained that economic resistance means reducing dependence, strengthening domestic production, expanding economic relations, diversifying resources, and moving beyond a single-product economy. He said cultural resistance refers to safeguarding identity, confronting soft warfare, and producing indigenous knowledge and thought.
Resistance in the diplomatic arena, he added, means not deviating from national interests and goals despite pressures and difficulties, acting wisely in interactions, striving to break communication monopolies, and presenting a documented and convincing narrative of Iran’s rights-based positions to the world.
Araqchi stated that such a comprehensive outlook elevates resistance from a merely defensive strategy to a forward-looking and constructive model for national development and regional influence.
The foreign minister said the beating heart, main core, and moral axis of the entire resistance current is undoubtedly resistance against the historical, expansionist, and racist occupation by the Zionist regime. He described this resistance as a legitimate, legal, and humane response to decades of land occupation, the displacement of a nation, systematic and blatant violations of human rights, the killing of children, the destruction of homes, and the imposition of overt apartheid policies.
Araqchi said that today the Palestinian resistance, particularly by relying on its own capabilities, has gone beyond a local and individual action to become a decisive and influential actor capable of changing security and political equations across the region, permanently shattering the illusion of the Zionist regime’s invincibility.
He then stressed that Iran will continue its moral, political, and legal support for the discourse of resistance.
Contrary to many perceptions that portray the region’s future as being under the unquestioned domination of the Zionist regime, Araqchi said realities on the ground show that resistance has become an undeniable geopolitical fact and one of the main and influential actors shaping the future order of the Middle East --an order that must be based on the free will of the peoples of the region, respect for national sovereignty, justice, and bilateral and multilateral cooperation, rather than imposition, coercion, and the designs of extra-regional powers.