Armed forces, IRGC, gov't joined hands for successful fight against terrorism

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iran's President stressed that there is no way other than resistance, adding, "Eight times in 2017 and five world leaders in 2018 delivered Trump's message for a meeting and we proved that we favour negotiating and have no fear of the battlefield".

Speaking on Thursday at the session of the Administrative Council of Gilan Province, President Hassan Rouhani said, "Despite all problems and sanctions, the biggest refineries and railway projects started operating and soon the biggest gas project will be opened in Assaluyeh".

Mentioning the hardships that the people of Iran went through in 2018, he said, "Despite all these, we thank God for the international achievements".

"Despite the unilateral sanctions of the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is the first time after the revolution that their sanctions have only a few proponents in the world, and the overwhelming majority of the countries are against them," said Rouhani.

He added, "Currently, a few reactionary countries and the Zionist Regime support the US' sanctions, but their allies in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Latin America and even the northern America and inside the United States, people believe that these sanctions were not right".

Referring to the results of a poll in the US based on which 60 per cent of Americans believe that Trump was not right for imposing sanctions on Iran, he said, "This is a political victory".

"In the United Nations, we saw that the majority of the countries around the world denounced or condemned the unilateral sanctions, and only a few countries supported it," he said.

The President also referred to Iran's achievements in the region, adding, "For the first time in the history of the region and the world, the effective and even main decisions for the security of the region, especially in Syria, is being made by three countries, one of which is the Islamic Republic of Iran".

"Currently, many countries request joining these tripartite summits," he said referring to the tripartite summits of Iran, Russia and Turkey for resolving the Syrian case.

President Rouhani went on to refer to the cooperation between the armed forces and the government for achieving great political success in international fields, saying, "The government has provided the expenses, weapons, foreign policy and a part of intelligence work, and the armed forces have a very heavy responsibility in the battlefield".

Stressing that we cannot be indifferent towards our neighbours, he said, "If it were not for the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region would definitely fall and ISIS would dominate the region".

"Even if the ISIS didn't come close to our borders, the flow of Iraqi refugees to Iran would make many problems for our country, because we would welcome them like the past 40 years, not like Europeans, who close the doors on refugees and draw guns on them," he said.

There is no way except for resistance, said Rouhani, adding, "Eight times in my visit to New York in 2017, and five world leaders in 2018 delivered Trump's message for a meeting, but I announced that the time and conditions weren't ripe for a meeting".

"I said it there that first the United States should return back in the nuclear deal and compensate its withdrawal," said the President.

He continued, "We favour negotiation and have its power. Our reasoning is powerful and certain, one example of which is victories in international courts against the US".

He said, "We are not hopeless and we will continue our right path. Of course, you sometimes win and sometimes lose in a battlefield".

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran also went on to say, "Our basic principle for relations with the world is mutual interest".

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