TEHRAN/NEW DELHI: In his first wide-ranging interview since assuming responsibilities at the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani mapped out Iran’s defense posture, diplomatic red lines, regional calculations, and domestic priorities with striking candor. Published on the official website of Ayatollah Khamenei, the interview highlighted both continuity in the Islamic Republic’s worldview and a recognition that resilience today requires a sharper blend of deterrence, modernization, and social endurance.
Larijani began by clarifying that the current ceasefire should not be mistaken for peace,but rather as a pause in an ongoing confrontation. Drawing from Iran’s historical memory, he invoked the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, which ended not with a decisive victory but with a hard-fought endurance-based ceasefire. This framing casts the present phase as another battle in a long war of attrition, where survival hinges not only on weaponry but also on national cohesion.
He recalled how unity among Iranians in the 1980s prevented adversaries from exploiting divisions, attributing Iran’s survival then to collective resolve and the composure of leaders like Khomeini. Strategic guidance from Ayatollah Khamenei, he stressed, serves as the anchor of this same endurance today.
Despite his emphasis on resilience, Larijani avoided triumphalism. He acknowledged operational shortcomings during the twelve-day war and confirmed the establishment of a Defense Council to address them. This echoes the restructuring that followed early setbacks in the Iran-Iraq conflict, when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was empowered to develop asymmetric capabilities. Today, Larijani argued, gaps in air defense, radar, and missile integration must be urgently addressed. Unlike the 1980s, however, Iran now aims to leverage its scientific and technological ecosystem universities, research institutes, and young innovators through the Council’s newly created Technology Deputy. Modern conflicts, he said, are waged as much in laboratories and data centers as on the battlefield.
On infiltration and espionage, Larijani admitted to vulnerabilities but stressed that threats have evolved. Whereas in the past adversaries relied on human penetration, today they exploit data and technological mastery. He drew a parallel to earlier experiences with cyber warfare, from Stuxnet – a cyberattack tool to sabotage campaigns, which revealed that cyberspace had become a decisive battleground. By openly acknowledging these risks, Larijani signaled that Iran will expand counterintelligence beyond traditional espionage to encompass technological intrusions.
The interview also revisited Iran’s philosophy of information control. In the early revolutionary years and during the Iran-Iraq war, Tehran often swung between secrecy and propaganda, at times eroding public credibility. Larijani suggested a new approach: honesty itself should be treated as strength. “If you cannot discuss something, say so, but do not state falsehoods,” he declared. This shift from rigid opacity to measured transparency is meant to preserve public trust in an era dominated by instant digital skepticism.
In diplomacy, Larijani fused defiance with flexibility. He invoked “heroic flexibility”, the phrase first used by Khamenei in 2013 during the nuclear talks to signal Iran’s willingness to negotiate, but never from a position of weakness. He recalled how Iran, under sanctions pressure, entered the 2015 nuclear deal but refused to abandon uranium enrichment entirely. Tactical concessions may be made, he insisted, but strategic red lines remain immovable. “Iranians are not a people who surrender,” he said, underscoring that Iran will never negotiate its core sovereignty away.
The Resistance Front featured prominently in his defense of Iran’s regional policy. Larijani argued that movements in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and Yemen persist not because of Iranian dictates but because they represent authentic local grievances. Just as Western portrayals of Hezbollah before the 2006 Lebanon war underestimated its staying power, these movements, he said, endure precisely because they are rooted in local realities. He described them as brothers, not clients, echoing Iran’s post-Iraq war principle of “forward defense”, the belief that security must be safeguarded beyond Iran’s borders.
Turning to the Caucasus, Larijani warned of Western encirclement strategies. He described U.S.-brokered arrangements between Armenia and Azerbaijan as part of a broader plan to suffocate Iran geopolitically, reminiscent of earlier concerns over U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan after 2001. While noting Armenia’s assurances of Iran’s access to the North-South corridor, he insisted these commitments be formalized, citing past instances where verbal assurances gave way to strategic isolation. On reports of Israeli influence in Baku, Larijani struck a cautious tone: Iran has found no evidence but will remain alert, preferring to manage tensions without premature escalation.
The nuclear question dominated a significant portion of the interview. Larijani contrasted Mohamed ElBaradei’s independent leadership of the IAEA with Rafael Grossi’s alleged submission to Western and Israeli pressure, framing the current impasse as part of a long struggle over legitimacy. He reiterated that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, though leaving the NPT remains an option, a threat recalling Ahmadinejad-era brinkmanship. He rejected endless procedural extensions or European stalling, accusing the West of using negotiations as instruments of delay. The “snapback” sanctions mechanism, he argued, was U.S.-driven and procedurally flawed, much as Tehran had claimed during the collapse of the JCPOA under Trump.
On alliances, Larijani defended Iran’s pivot to China, Russia, and regional neighbors, citing Western hostility as leaving no other choice. He drew a historical parallel to the 1980s, when Beijing supplied Tehran with arms and oil deals despite Iran’s isolation. Today, however, he cautioned that these partnerships, while crucial, are not unconditionally reliable. Moscow and Beijing, he admitted, often fall short of Iran’s expectations, underscoring that Tehran must diversify and strengthen its own capabilities.
Perhaps the most striking moment came when Larijani shifted from geopolitics to domestic livelihood. He admitted that the struggles of ordinary Iranians to secure basic needs weigh more heavily than any other challenge. This echoes the late 1980s, when economic exhaustion compelled Tehran to accept UN Resolution 598, ending the war with Iraq. Just as then, Larijani implied that legitimacy today hinges on revitalizing idle factories, stabilizing energy supplies, and strengthening cooperation between government and parliament. He emphasized that endurance cannot be sustained without economic revival, recognizing that no degree of ideological resolve can compensate for a broken economy.
In sum, Larijani’s remarks read as both reassurance and warning. To the Iranian people, he pledged honesty, unity, and renewed focus on livelihoods. To adversaries, he sent a clear signal: Iran will neither capitulate, nor disarm, nor abandon its allies. By framing the ceasefire as temporary, he set expectations of prolonged confrontation, while his emphasis on modernization and economic revival underscored that legitimacy at home is as vital as deterrence abroad.
Factories and fuel, he suggested, are as essential to national survival as missiles and militias. The interview crystallized a message rooted in Iran’s four decades of strategic memory: survival depends on balancing resistance, reform, and resilience. The Islamic Republic will negotiate, but only from strength; it will adapt, but never surrender; and it will endure, provided its people see tangible progress alongside ideological steadfastness.
This interview was originally published by the official website of Ayatollah Khamenei, available at: https://english.khamenei.ir. The full text of the interview can be accessed directly here: https://english.khamenei.ir/news/11866/Iranians-are-not-a-people-who-surrender.
– Dr. Shahid Siddiqui; follow via X @shahidsiddiqui
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