Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced that strengthening deterrence is one of Iran’s priority policies, adding that Iran does not "wait for anyone's frown or smile" in determining the lines of its foreign policy.
The president spoke at the closing ceremony of the meeting of the heads of the missions of Iran abroad.
He indicated that the government's foreign policy calls for dealing with all countries based on justice.
Raisi implicitly criticized the previous government headed by Hassan Rouhani without mentioning his name, defying the old assumption that the fate of countries worldwide is determined by a small number of powers with whom foreign policy decisions have to be coordinated.
"In the past, some people thought that a few countries determined the future of countries in the world, and therefore, the lines of foreign policy should be aligned with them, but we believe that we should cooperate with countries according to their capacities and considerations."
Raisi urged Iranian diplomats to accurately understand the current and required situation as part of "necessary" steps to bring about a shift in foreign policy.
The president said the foreign policy apparatus is one of the crucial mechanisms for generating power for the country.
"If we do not have a precise knowledge of the current and desired situation, we cannot take steps towards transformation,” he noted.
Raisi warned against not joining "emerging" organizations such as the Shanghai Organization, BRICS, and the Eurasian Union, describing them as "future-building powers."
Raisi described foreign policy in African countries, Latin American countries, and other regions from East Asia to Central Asia and Europe as essential fields for the activity of the diplomatic apparatus of Iran.
The Iranian government's policy calls for cooperating with all countries interacting with Iran out of goodwill, but if "a country intends to be hostile to us, we will resist."
"We are sure that the way to the country's progress is resistance, not surrender and retreat, and therefore we will never back down from our principles. Of course, at the same time, strengthening deterrence power is also one of our main work policies".
Iran continues accumulating uranium enrichment by 60 percent, amid international fears that Tehran will change the course of its nuclear program towards developing nuclear weapons, which it denies.
Earlier, Iran announced the manufacture and successful test launch of a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers.
The commander of the Aerospace unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said that his country is preparing to unveil a hypersonic missile soon.
