War cannot uproot Iranians tied with sacrifice, perseverance and faith: Foreign minister

TEHRAN (Iran News)  Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has once again hailed the Iranian nation for their steadfastness and resilience during the recent unprovoked 12-day Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.

Joining Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing on Monday, Araqchi said that the Israeli regime, with the support of some world powers, launched open aggression but they failed to achieve their goals due to the steadfastness of the Iranian people.

“This war will undoubtedly be one of the lasting and unforgettable points in the contemporary history of Iran. The Iranian people have shown once again they are more rooted and steadfast than to be uprooted by such winds or even storms”, he underscored, saying “This nation has roots in a history of several thousand years and is tied with sacrifice, perseverance and faith.”

The top diplomat also extended his condolences to the families of martyrs, including Nima Rajabpour, a news editor of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the IRIB’s central building in Tehran.

Praising Iranian journalists for their courage, Araqchi said the country had witnessed many memorable scenes of their selfless and professional presence in different arenas.

The foreign minister likened journalists with diplomats, saying they are companions and allies as the fields of diplomacy and media are complementary.

“In Mazar-e-Sharif, diplomats and journalists stood side by side and died in fulfilling their missions but journalists were smarter than us to register that day in their name,” Araqchi referred to Journalist Day marked on August 8th, a day when Mahmoud Saremi was killed along with a group of diplomats in Afghanistan in 1998.

At the end, Araqchi wished success to all media personnel, including foreign journalists present at the press conference. “We are grateful to our colleagues in the IRIB, both journalists and officials, who kept the national media alive in the most difficult conditions, under the rain of bombs and missiles, and did not allow the enemy to reach its goal,” he added.