Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran is the most secure and the safest country in the region despite all problems and shortages.
'We should know how we have reached such a position of strengthen and security in spite of all brutal sanctions (imposed on the country) over the past 40 years,' Zarif said in an address to a group of Iranians residing in Belgrade Monday night.
'All of us are indebted the Iranian people...it was this people who made the Islamic Republic powerful,' said the Iranian foreign minister who is now visiting Serbia on the first leg of his tour of Balkan and East European countries.
Today, the West and the US are complaining about Iran's ever increasing influence and this would not have happened had it not been for people's resistance and support, Zarif told the audience.
'We are now in such a position that unlike some others, we do not have to tolerate conditions that are dictated by others...to be great has a price,' the foreign minister said.
'The hearts of all Iranians with different ideological tendencies beat for Iran and they are ready to sacrifice all their have at crucial junctures. The Iranian people symbolize our independence and dignity,' Zarif said.
Washington's severest sanctions could not bring the Iranian nation to its knees and the policy of separating the Iranian people from the ruling system which was the goal of their so-called paralyzing sanctions, was foiled by the same people, the foreign minister said.
Somebody whose first priority was to scrap the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with G5+1 known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ( JCPOA) and who considered it as the worst agreement in the history of the United States has not yet managed to do so after passage of 14 months because he knows what a heavy price he would have to pay for this.
Elsewhere in his speech, the Iranian foreign minister also called on all Iranians living abroad to consider the embassies of the Islamic Republic as their homes.
Earlier on Monday, Zarif met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić who underlined development of bilateral ties and expansion of cooperation on the regional issues with Iran.
'As president of Serbia, I should announce that we are ready for cooperation with Iran and development of bilateral ties in all fields,' President Vučić said. He noted that there is no limitation for development of ties with Iran.
- (IRNA)
