TEHRAN - We are Iranians — heirs to a civilization that, for millennia, has forged a model of engagement alongside steadfast resistance. These principles are not hollow slogans, but the product of blood and historical experience.

1. Negotiation exists only within the realm of interests

Iranians have always been a people of dialogue and negotiation, yet they have always understood the precise limits of engagement. From the Silk Road, where goods and cultures were exchanged, to the diplomacy of the Achaemenids with Greek cities and neighboring states, we have negotiated for progress and survival, fully aware that the basis of such negotiation is mutual benefit.

If the other side seeks influence, the alteration of our borders, or the weakening of our independence, we halt engagement. This is precisely the policy we demonstrated in the face of Alexander’s invasion, the Arabs, the Mongols, the Portuguese, the Russians, the British, and the Americans. Engagement is our instrument, not our objective. Our objective is the preservation and strengthening of Iran — not becoming something shaped to suit the preferences of others.

2. Rights are permanent and non-negotiable

Sovereignty over our land, the right to independent decision-making, the preservation of national identity and territorial integrity, and every other civilizational right are not commodities to us. These are not matters to be bargained over at a negotiating table.

In Iranian culture, rights are understood as sacred and enduring. In the Shahnameh — not merely a literary masterpiece, but an anthropological distillation of Iranian civilization — Ferdowsi repeatedly shows that even great kings fall when they violate what is right, regardless of their power. Cyrus, in his charter, recognized the rights of different peoples, yet never sacrificed the rights of Iran itself. We follow the same path.

Any agreement that seeks to trade away part of these rights under the pretext of “expediency” or “realism” is, in our view, illegitimate. History has taught us that a nation which sells its rights will, sooner or later, lose its very existence as well.

3. Justice is the only way to close the file of injustice

Injustice is a wound. It does not heal with time; it festers and poisons generations. We have seen this repeatedly throughout our history: from the Mongol devastations to the imposed treaties of the nineteenth century and the injustices of the modern era. Capitulation was among the major motivations behind our Islamic Revolution.

When injustice occurs, there is only one remedy: the establishment of justice. That means recognizing what is right, compensating for both material and moral damages, and creating mechanisms that make the repetition of injustice impossible.

Anushirvan was remembered as “the Just” not because of military power, but because of justice. We revere Ali because he was killed in his place of worship for the sake of justice. Zoroaster regarded Asha — truth and justice — as the foundation of the world itself; without it, the world descends into corruption.

We do not forget justice because we know that forgetting justice is an invitation to the next injustice. In our view, problems must be resolved at their roots, not concealed beneath forced or transactional “forgiveness.”

4. Human life is the most sacred red line

Above all else stands human life. The blood of an Iranian, the life of a citizen, is the most sacred value beyond negotiation.

This principle runs deep within our culture. In the Iranian tradition, hospitality and granting refuge — even to an enemy — reflect reverence for human life, though this has at times been mistaken for excessive softness. We have drawn the sword in defense of life and homeland, but we have never accepted the lives of ordinary people as bargaining chips in political games.

No interest, no “historic agreement,” no foreign pressure is worth the spilling of even a single drop of innocent blood. This is our ultimate red line.

The final strategic principle

Together, these four principles define a clear path: Smart engagement in the realm of interests, combined with complete steadfastness in the realm of rights and justice, and absolute reverence for human life.

We are neither isolationists who close the door to the world, nor surrenderists willing to trade everything away in the name of “peace” or “the economy.” Ours is the path of Iranian civilization: realism with honor, engagement with dignity, and peace with justice.

More precisely, we confront others on four different levels, through four different methods, and according to four different sets of rules. This is natural for a seven-thousand-year-old civilization — just as the simplistic and limited understanding that looks only to commercial and quasi-commercial interests is natural for a civilization less than a millennium old.

This four-sphere perspective is rooted in the soil of Iran itself and requires no importation from elsewhere. It is the same voice that has echoed from Cyrus to Ferdowsi to the people of this land today: Iran must be preserved through rights, justice, and dignity — not through bargaining and forgetting.

Others wish to engage with us solely through diplomacy, and they understand diplomacy only through the rules of trade. Ultimately, they seek to resolve every issue within that single framework.

But we do not negotiate over rights, over justice, or over the blood of Iranians. These matters are not concluded at diplomatic tables.

If the opposing side is incapable of thinking beyond the other three spheres, then we will engage with them diplomatically within the sphere of interests, while resolving the matters of the other spheres in their proper time and place. We are sufficiently civilized, and sufficiently capable of shaping culture, to find the proper timing and instruments for resolving such matters.

And in the end, as the title itself states:

It is just a supradiplomatic op-ed.