Iran is not an orphan at the negotiation tables.
Iran is not a ready morsel for governments to swallow.
Iran is not the inheritance of lobbies and political brokers either.
This land,
long before many of today’s governments even came into existence,
possessed a civilization, a state, a memory, a nation.
That is why anyone who still imagines decisions about Iran
can be made in Washington, Paris, or London
has, in truth, understood neither Iran,
nor the Iranian nation,
nor the depth of her history.
The Islamic Republic spent four decades trying to hold Iran hostage.
The hired opposition also spent four decades trying
to tie Iran’s fate to foreign tables.
One through repression,
one through lobbying,
one through appeasement,
and one through media bluster.
Yet one truth has emerged from beneath the rubble of all these years:
Iran is not determined by governments.
The Iranian nation determines Iran.
This statement is not merely a political stance;
it is a declaration of national independence.
It is a slap in the face of the Islamic Republic,
a slap in the face of the profiteers of sanctions and appeasement,
a slap in the face of the fake opposition that
has always loitered around the courts of foreign powers
and imagined it could purchase legitimacy for Iran from there.
Iran
is not a file on the desk of this or that foreign ministry.
Iran
is a living civilization.
It is a nation that has endured suffering,
shed blood,
been deceived,
yet still stands.
The era of appointing guardians for Iran is over.
Neither the Islamic Republic is the guardian of the Iranian nation,
nor are foreign governments,
nor intermediaries and translators of foreign interests,
nor the bankrupt remnants of 1979.
And whoever is enraged by this statement
is not concerned with democracy,
freedom,
or independence;
their concern is that with the awakening of the Iranian nation,
their shop will be shut down.
Iran cannot be sold.
Iran cannot be traded.
Iran cannot be defined from outside.
Iran will be reclaimed and rebuilt only by the Iranian nation.