Remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi to Reporters in Baghdad

• The Council of Foreign Ministers session is a regular meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held annually. This year, the presidency was entrusted to Iraq.
  • Iraq, as a friendly neighboring country, is of great importance to us, and Iraq’s success in leading this organization can be highly significant.
  • Unfortunately, for many reasons that are open to discussion, the OIC has not performed well. However, with the appointment of a new secretary-general, who is Mauritania’s former foreign minister, and the transfer of the rotating presidency to Iraq, we hope the organization will regain new momentum.
  • The organization is expected to play a constructive role in resolving disputes among Islamic countries.
  • The final resolution and statement have not yet been issued, but my colleagues have been working over the past few days to engage in the drafting of most of the resolutions. Almost all of them are repetitions of last year’s resolutions.
  • Serious discussions on Yemen took place at this session. Saudi Arabia presented its views, and we and other countries also expressed our positions. There is a proposal to issue a resolution, which has not yet been finalized. We hope, however, that fairness and balance will be observed in the resolution and the final statement. Naturally, if this does not happen, the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot join the resolution. The bloc of countries whose positions are close to those of Saudi Arabia is certainly a significant one within the organization. We have, of course, conducted extensive lobbying, and I also emphasized a solution in my speech.
  • Our conditions are entirely clear and have been presented to the United States in the form of a seven-day plan. The Americans have submitted their views, and we are still responding to them. In our view, the seven-day plan remains on the table. If there is any sincerity on the American side—which there is not—the path forward is clear: if they meet those conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen on the sixth day, and negotiations will begin on the seventh day.
  • We had a fully respectful but frank and serious meeting with the Lebanese foreign minister. We have significant differences in outlook with the current Lebanese government regarding how issues in Lebanon should be resolved. However, we agreed on the need to pay attention to relations between the two governments and to advance them.
  • We will never bow to threats. We are more prepared than ever to defend ourselves. At the same time, we are ready to pursue diplomacy, provided it is conducted with dignity and honor and safeguards the rights of the Iranian people.