LONDON - Submission and surrender do not exist in Iran’s political culture. Pressure instead leads to resilience and real efforts to solve problems under difficult conditions. It drives the search for alternatives to anything vulnerable to sanctions or threats. For example, the maritime blockade America seeks to impose on Iran forces Iran to develop alternative land and sea trade routes.

Iran has experienced this throughout the years since the 1979 revolution, and it would not have reached near self-sufficiency in military and civilian industries without operating under pressure and sanctions. This includes finding alternatives to imports in both military and civilian manufacturing and making use of the country’s vast resources and lands.

The Western bloc led by America seeks to make Iran an exception among nations by denying it internationally recognized rights, including the civilian use of nuclear energy under the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran will not submit to this. And it knows how to change the equation. Iran understands that what could not be achieved through war cannot be extracted during peacetime. 

The war that lasted 39 days saw America calling for a ceasefire after only the tenth day. Iran only ended the conflict after sending the message that it would not surrender to this logic. Would it then make sense for Iran to surrender merely because of threats to restart the war, even if that war caused destruction? Such destruction would not change the outcome. It would not change geography, nor would it change Iran’s will. This is the message Iran’s leadership conveyed to the American side through mediators.

The statements of the American president diminish his credibility while increasing Iran’s credibility. If America enters another war and still changes nothing, its credibility will collapse not only in Iran and the region, but globally. This would contribute to the major global transformations now unfolding. 

This war has revealed the difference between Western cultural and civilizational concepts, despite all the values the West claims to uphold, and the actual values carried by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The world witnesses the contradictions in American rhetoric and the arrogance that permits itself to seize nations’ wealth, change governments, and violate international laws that America itself established. 

In contrast stands Iran, steadfast in what it considers truth, refusing to submit to threats, presenting its principles firmly without abandoning them, while still allowing room for diplomacy despite the injustices of the existing international order. This war exposed that contrast. It also changed the stereotypical image the West tried to create about Iran over past decades. Iran gained prestige and respect as a nation defending what it sees as its rights. This will make countries around the world deal with Iran with greater appreciation and respect.

The blockade Trump seeks to impose on Iran will encourage Iran to develop alternatives by turning eastward and strengthening relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Russia. This itself becomes another gain for Iran. Therefore, the Strait of Hormuz in this context is highly valuable as it is strategically one of the world’s most important economic and energy supply routes, including trade in minerals, urea, and aluminum. 

Furthermore, it serves as an effective tool against American sanctions and blockade policies by enabling Iran to retaliate economically against those enforcing sanctions. It also enhances Iran’s prestige and influence among nations and can become a source of revenue and wealth through transit fees, similar to the Bosporus Strait in Turkey or the Suez Canal in Egypt.
No military operation, regardless of destruction, can truly eliminate these realities. America will eventually realize that it misunderstood and misjudged Iran. Here Iran asserts is right to the Strait of Hormuz, its right to enrich uranium, to recover seized assets, the right to compensation for damages caused by aggression against it and its right to exercise sovereign policies as an independent state so long as it remains within international law.

In doing so, Iran contributes to creating a new world order based on values, ethics, equality, mutual respect, and recognition of rights, rather than domination and brute force. After this war, Iran will find itself in a position of greater international respect that may prepare it to play a major role in shaping this emerging order.