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Araghchi extols General Soleimani as ‘architect of Axis of Resistance’
IRNA chief: Slain commander never engaged with battlefield-diplomacy duality
Araghchi made the remark in a speech at the “International Conference of Martyr Hajj Qassem Soleimani; Diplomacy and Resistance", held on the occasion of the 5th martyrdom anniversary of the top commander, who was assassinated by the US in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in January 2020.
"Hajj Qassem was the architect of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ in the region. The legacy of the architecture has gone far beyond the current policies as well as practical approaches in the foreign policy,” he said.
Underlining that Iran’s foreign policy has been formed based on the “Diplomacy of Axis of Resistance,” Araghchi said the foreign diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been founded based on the Resistance and will move on this path with utmost power.
The top Iranian diplomat stressed that effective and successful diplomacy requires a balanced combination of courage and prudence.
“Without the tools of diplomacy, neither do relations take shape in an orderly manner nor do efforts to enhance power in its various dimensions bear fruit,” he said, adding that negotiation is the art of diplomacy and that strengthening diplomacy helps reduce costs, institutionalize achievements, and secure victory in both peace and war. “However, diplomacy alone leads nowhere.”
Emphasizing that Iran will continue its moral, political, and legal support for the discourse of resistance, Araghchi said many envisage the future of the region to be under Israel’s "unquestionable domination" but the realities of the region and the world show that “resistance has become an undeniable geopolitical reality and one of the main influential players in shaping the future order" of the West Asia region.
Pointing to the unprecedented and outstanding role of Martyr Soleimani in operationalization of the resistance discourse, he said that the top commander was the concrete embodiment of the resistance who defined the discourse of the resistance within the framework of theoretical concepts and transformed it into a tangible and influential power.
Speaking on the sidelines of the international conference, Managing Director of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Hossein Jaberi Ansari, said Martyr Soleimani never engaged with the dichotomy of the “battlefield and diplomacy.”
Referring to the fact that diplomacy and the battlefield find meaning together and that the duality must fundamentally be broken, Jaberi Ansari said, “The formation of a dichotomy called the field and diplomacy is not a game based on the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian nation.”
Martyr Soleimani's experience during nearly a quarter-century of his direct and clear influence in the arena of Iran's foreign affairs was precisely in that direction, he added.
“Martyr Soleimani never entered into such conflicts and dualities and always tried to ensure that the battlefield and diplomacy, together and in a meaningful way, served to enhance Iran's power, which is the power of Islam.”
General Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions were assassinated in a US drone strike authorized by then-US President Donald Trump near Baghdad’s International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Both commanders were highly revered across West Asia because of their key role in fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.