“In foreign policy, when we say dignity, it means groveling the diplomacy of groveling,” Ayatollah Khamenei said during a meeting with a group of Iranian Foreign Ministry officials and ambassadors to other countries on Saturday morning.
“During these years, we have had cases where our diplomacy was, to put it accurately, the diplomacy of groveling,” he said.
The Supreme Leader hastened to add that dignity, on the other hand, means negating such kind of diplomacy and avoiding begging for the help of others.
Dignity, he went on, means Iranian diplomats should not look at what others say or how they judge and act, but “rely on our own principles.”
Ayatollah Khamenei further called on the officials to act wisely in bilateral and multilateral interactions, avoid making ill-considered comments, and think carefully before making decisions.
“Expediency means recognizing cases where flexibility can be applied,” he further noted.
“Sometimes one has to be flexible. Flexibility does not contradict principles. Maintaining the principles and showing the occasional flexibility can coexist. Flexibility can be applied in some cases,” he underlined.
The meeting was held on Saturday morning as heads of Iran's diplomatic missions around the world gathered for a conference in Tehran.
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