Kamal Kharrazi, head of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and a former foreign minister, said maintaining independence, standing up to coercion and expanding ties with neighboring countries should be the central pillars of Tehran’s external engagement.

Neighbors, he added, should be treated with “compassion” and constructive cooperation.

At the same time, Kharrazi said Iran should respond forcefully to adversaries that seek to undermine its sovereignty, arguing that Tehran’s response should be proportionate to the level of hostility it faces.

He described the United States as having been hostile to Iran “from the outset”, saying Iran had responded accordingly.

Kharrazi was speaking at a specialized panel of the first National Congress on Foreign Policy and the History of Foreign Relations, which began on Sunday at the foreign ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies.

Diplomats and academics are discussing Iran’s foreign relations and its place in the international system during the two-day event.

DID/IRN