Independence means survival in face of US pressures: Iran FM

'Independence means that we do not have to rely on others for survival, and in order for us to achieve independence in foreign policy we do not have to be detached from the rest of the world,' Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a congress titled multilateralism in Iran's foreign policy.

'Independence does not mean to deprive ourselves from global assets, rather it indicates that we feel secure and rely on ourselves for survival,' he said. 

Referring to the American Republican Senator Lindsey Graham comments on Saudi Arabia's reliance on the US, Zarif said, 'Independence means that no one can speak about Iran in the same way Americans speak about Saudi Arabia.'

In December Graham told the Fox News 'If it weren't for the United States, they'd be speaking Farsi in about a week in Saudi Arabia.'

'Not only did we survive for 40 years without the US, but also we survived for 40 years despite the US pressures,' he said.

'We are experiencing endogeny,' Zarif said, 'and beside the endogeny, resistance economy also entails exogeny.'

'In other words, endogeny does not mean being isolated and fighting the world,' the top Iranian diplomat said.