Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, who has traveled to Algeria for talks with senior officials regarding bilateral relations and international developments, attended a meeting on Tuesday evening with a group of Algerian intellectuals, cultural figures, and media activists.
During the meeting, the Iranian foreign minister elaborated on Iran's principled positions regarding various foreign policy issues, including support for resistance and the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, as well as Iran's nuclear program.
The foreign minister pointed to the 80-year occupation of Palestine and the colonial project to erase the Palestinian nation – which has continued over the past 17 months with unprecedented massacres and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank – as well as the ongoing aggressions by the Zionist regime against Lebanon and Syria, and its collaboration with the US in attacking Yemen.
He stated that supporting the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian and Lebanese people is a legal and moral duty of all governments, emphasizing that the experience of the past eight decades has shown there is no way to curb the expansionism and warmongering of the Zionist regime except through resistance.
Araghchi strongly criticized the support and complicity of the US and some other Western countries in the genocide of Gaza's people through military, financial, and political backing of the occupying regime. He highlighted the necessity of solidarity and unity among the Islamic Ummah to defend Palestine and other Islamic countries against Israeli aggression.
Regarding Iran's nuclear program, while explaining the country’s principled stance, the foreign minister outlined the history of Iran's responsible approach to address any doubts about the nature of its nuclear activities, which led to clinching the JCPOA deal and subsequently the unlawful US withdrawal from it.
Referring to recent developments and Iran's readiness for indirect talks with the US, he stressed that the upcoming talks in Muscat present a new opportunity for diplomacy and a test to gauge America's seriousness, given its long record of breach of commitments and unilateralism.
In response to a question from a media activist about the agenda of any indirect talks between Iran and the US, Araghchi emphasized, “The nuclear issue, meaning transparency and assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting unjust sanctions, is the only subject of discussion.”
Later in the meeting, participants shared their views and questions regarding regional and international issues, particularly the genocide of the Palestinian people and the urgent need for comprehensive, decisive action by the international community and Islamic countries to stop the killings and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank, and to hold the heads of the Zionist regime accountable and punish them.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Islamic Republic of Iran.
