TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that it is people who back national security in Iran.

“Respecting the human rights is not just a moral obligation for Iran, rather it is a necessity for its national security. We need the people as supporters of our own national security and we are nothing without the people,” he said in speech at annual gathering of pro-reform Neda-ye Iranian Party (Voice of Iranians).

The chief diplomat said respecting the human rights is not a legal and moral obligation for Iran, rather it is a “necessity for survival”.

He noted that it is the people who have empowered Iran.

“It is the people of Iran who are the basis of our power,” he added.

The foreign minister noted that the people should be praised and should be protected as “great social capital”.

Zarif also said that Iran’s power does not depend on foreigners, insisting it comes from inside the country.

“This is why I assure you that we all should be hopeful about the future, because our future is going to be better,” he added.

He noted that Iran has been and is a “powerful” and “influential” country and will remain so.

Referring to remarks made by Lindsey Graham, a Republican U.S. senator, Zarif said, “As a Muslim who lives in the region, I am ashamed that such remarks are made about our neighbor (Saudi Arabia).”

“However, at the same time I am proud that we have stand against your pressure over the past 40 years which makes you imagine that our neighbors would speak Farsi without your pressure. You are mistaken,” he said.

In remarks made to Fox News on Sunday, Senator Graham said, “Let me put it this way — I want to be very blunt with you: If it weren’t for the United States, they’d be speaking Farsi in about a week in Saudi Arabia.”

Zarif also said that the time of being a superpower has gone. 

Elsewhere, Zarif attached great importance to national unity saying that “national interests are not something factional”.

“Today, an entity named Iran is the target,” he noted.

He added, “We should accept that we sit in one ship and we should make a better Iran and you the youths will make a better Iran for yourselves and your children.”

NA/PA