Transform the following complex compound-complex sentence containing a rhetorical interrogative structure, a modal past counterfactual, and multiple adverbial clauses into its correct indirect speech equivalent, ensuring rigorous backshifting, pronoun adjustments, and syntactic coherence:The veteran diplomat remarked to the international press corps, "Had our delegation anticipated the severity of the geopolitical sanctions last winter, would we have willingly conceded to such restrictive treaty terms, or should we have contested them before the assembly?"

To transform a direct speech sentence containing an interrogative structure into indirect speech, several grammatical transformations must occur simultaneously: (1) Reporting verbs denoting questions (like 'remarked' in an interrogative context) shift to 'asked' or 'inquired'; (2) The interrogative structure is converted into a declarative word order, dropping auxiliary inversion; (3) Because the question is a yes/no or alternative type introduced by an auxiliary verb/modal ('would', 'should'), the connector 'whether' or 'if' is required; (4) Modal counterfactuals involving past time ('Had our delegation anticipated...') retain their subjunctive/past-perfect structure while adjusting pronouns ('our' becomes 'their'); (5) Time markers undergo standard backshifting ('last winter' changes to 'the previous winter'). For a comprehensive overview of reporting clauses and clausal subordination, refer to the Wikipedia Reference on indirect speech.