🧵THREAD: Full Remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday:
🔹 “Over the course of one year, we went through two very severe wars. That is a reality. After the 12-day war, I think they concluded that perhaps they had not sufficiently prepared their capabilities. Perhaps they realized they first needed to target what they saw as our greatest strength, which is our social cohesion. They made preparations and got themselves ready for a bigger war. In the meantime, we experienced the events of the 18th of Dey [January 7-8], and then we faced the 40-day war, in which they imagined that this time they could finally, in their delusion, finish the job. But instead, they encountered extremely courageous and steadfast resistance from Iran, from Iran’s armed forces, and from the Iranian people.”
🔹 “When I use the word ‘steadfast,’ I do so deliberately. Just a couple of days ago, one Western official said, ‘We did not believe that the Iranian people, or Iran itself, could be this steadfast and resist this stubbornly.’”
🔹 “This steadfastness and resistance, throughout the 40 days of war and afterward during the ceasefire up to the present, is first and foremost owed to our armed forces, who made enormous sacrifices. This has been said many times, but truly every one of us owes a debt to our armed forces and to the martyrs of our armed forces, who gave their lives in sacrifice.”
🔹 “Likewise, we owe a debt to the people, who during this entire period never for a single moment abandoned the armed forces, the officials, or the country as a whole. Every night they were in the streets, and every day they were present in the field. They endured shortages and hardships with resilience and perseverance, and they remained engaged. That is why it is right to speak of a kind of national awakening, even a kind of rebirth.”