Tehran: Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei has commemorated Hossein Fatemi, Iran's foreign minister before the 1953 coup led by the US, for his efforts to protect Iran's independence and sovereignty. Baghaei said in a post on X social media platform on Saturday that Dr. Fatemi became a victim of domestic despotism and foreign colonialism when he was executed following the coup against the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. According to Islamic Republic News Agency, Baghaei also cited a quote from Fatemi in the Bakhtar newspaper, published when he was foreign minister, which said, 'We should preserve our independence with resilience and steadfastness and must defend the interests of the Iranian nation at any cost.' Fatemi was executed by firing squad on November 10, 1954, in Tehran.