TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday that culture of altruism and martyrdom has protected the country against foreign pressure.

“Culture of altruism and martyrdom has protected the country against pressure and the people have insured the country against pressure and aggressions,” Zarif said during a ceremony held to mark the anniversary of the return of the POWs to the country in 1990.

The first group of Iranian soldiers captured by Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran returned to the country two years after the end of the war. Iraq launched war on Iran in 1980 which ended in the summer of 1988.

The remarks by Zarif comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has launched the toughest ever economic sanctions against Iran in line with the White House’s “maximum pressure” against Tehran.

“All Iranian people are indebted to altruists, prisoners, and the martyrs,” Zarif notes. 
The chief diplomat also said, “All Iranian people are indebted to altruists, prisoners, and the martyrs.” 

Zarif also said that people former the cornerstone of Iran’s power and the country has made progress as a result of resisting sanctions.

“People are the basis of our power. What we have it is from people,” the chief diplomat said during a speech at the ceremony.

He noted that power is not limited to political, economic and military capabilities.

During a speech at a ceremony held to mark the international day of Islamic human rights on August 7, Zarif said it is the people and not foreign powers that form the basis of Iran’s power.

“Power of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the discourse that it has presented to the world. A discourse which considers people and not a foreign power the basis of power, legitimacy, security, progress and independence,” he said.

He said, “We never buy security and we never sell it, because we gain our security, progress and legitimacy from our people.”

NA/PA