Pres. Rouhani: Sanction cannot continue as lose-lose path; Americans have to return

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iran's President stressed, "With the resistance and steadfastness of the Iranian nation against sanctions and enemies’ maximum economic pressures, the situation is better than last year”.

Speaking on Wednesday in a cordial meeting with Iranians residing in Malaysia during his visit to the country, President Hassan Rouhani said, “Today, our resistance against foreign pressures is more than before”.

He added, "During the term of office of the 11th government, the Islamic Republic of Iran wanted to make it clear to the world that we believe that issues and disambiguates with other countries are resolvable through negotiation and dialogue”.

“Some inside and outside of the country thought that Iranians were reluctant to have negotiation, and we wanted to announce that it is not Iran who is reluctant, and that we are ready to discuss regional and global issues in order to resolve them through dialogue,” he added.

Dr Rouhani continued, "At one point, the other side showed interest and we could reach agreements with the six world powers, and at another point after the US unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) we proved that we do not break our promise”.

“In 2018 the Americans withdrew from the deal without a reason or even pretext, wishing other countries to follow them but they did not succeed in this and their allies disapproved of and even condemned their move,” he said.

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran also went on to say, "The goal that the Americans and Zionists were pursuing by sanctions and putting maximum pressure on Iran was to push us into isolation, and incentivise the Iranian nation to rise against the state”.

“Despite what they thought, the Iranian nation resisted in spite of having hard living conditions because of unjust sanctions that included foodstuff and medicine,” he said.

Dr Rouhani added, "The Iranian nation even turned the enemies’ maximum pressures and sanctions into opportunities for themselves”.

The President also said, "We faced some economic problems in 2018 with the unprecedented sanctions; problems that affected inflation, our economic growth, disruptions in the goods and foreign exchange market, but people could handle the situation”.

Stating that the country’s monthly inflation has a downward trend, he said, "Our estimates show that this year’s economic growth will not be negative, but positive”.

On self-sufficiency in the car parts manufacturing, he said, "Today, some of the parts that used to be imported are being manufactured inside the country”.

“In the field of oil and gas facilities and building turbines and compressors, we had problems, but now we are building them and the enemies’ pressures are moving us towards self-sufficiency,” he said.

The President continued, "Some countries thought that we could not give appropriate response in face of military pressure, but we were able to respond to their ship violating the rules in the Persian Gulf and bring down their drone, which violated the Iranian airspace, with our own defence system”.

Regarding nuclear field advancements, Dr Rouhani said, "Today, our new IR6 centrifuges are working and the newer IR9’s are being tested”.

“Today, the entire world know that the US’ withdrawal from the JCPOA was no to the benefit of anyone, even themselves and their friends,” said Rouhani.

The President said that sanction cannot continue as a lose-lose path, adding, "I believe that this sanction cannot continue, because it is an illegal move”.

“Americans have no choice but to return from this path, and we will force them to do so with our resistance and steadfastness,” he said.

He added, "Iranians residing outside of the country are ambassadors of the Iranian culture and the merciful Islam”.

Stating that the Iranian nation have always been against extremism and terrorism, Dr Rouhani said, "You need to be messengers of the Iranian nation’s peace and friendship”.

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