President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday praised Europe’s commitment to support Iran on the nuclear issue, but said the country will resist any “excessive demand” despite its desire to maintain good bilateral ties.
“It is really important for us to interact with other countries and that is why we are cooperating with our friends in the region and other countries, including those in Europe,” the president said in a Cabinet meeting, his website reported.
The president hailed European powers’ continued commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal and their refusal to help shore up the US tough policy against Iran but warned against pressing the country on other issues.
“We are ready to engage with the world, but the countries that work with us should be careful not to make excessive demands because the Iranian nation will continue to uphold their principles,” Rouhani said, without elaborating.
Europe recently took a major step to sustain the Iran nuclear pact by launching the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, a system meant to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran and avoid US sanctions.
The president says the US is struggling to advance its Iranophobia agenda, as many countries have refused to support its anti-Iran drive
However, they have stepped up criticism of Iran’s ballistic missile program and its regional policies, and conditioned the further development of INSTEX on the adoption of standards set by the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental organization that underpins the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Stressing that the Islamic Republic will never give in to “bullying”, Rouhani said, “We want to have good and friendly relations with Europe but will never accept irresponsible behaviors.”
European governments should fully abide by their obligations under the nuclear agreement, as it will benefit the region and the world, he added.
Futile Attempts
The president also said the United States is struggling to advance its Iranophobia agenda, as many countries have refused to support its anti-Iran drive.
The many gatherings that the Trump administration has organized so far to isolate and turn up the heat on the Islamic Republic have failed to achieve their intended results, he told Cabinet members.
He noted that the Americans had planned to step up their “Iranophobia campaign” at a recent global conference in Warsaw but their plans did not come to fruition.
The president was referring to a Middle East security conference hosted jointly by Poland and the US in the Polish capital earlier this month, which aimed to get other countries on board with US President Donald Trump’s Iran policy.
“Despite the fact that the European Union is a close US ally and the meeting was held in a European country, many major European states sent only low-level representatives,” he said.
Rouhani said tensions between Tehran and Washington are at “a maximum”, but vowed that Iran will overcome all challenges and defeat America in this unprecedented confrontation.
“Today, the struggle between Iran and the United States is at a maximum. They [the Americans] are using all their resources against the Iranian nation, and Iranians are using all their power … to confront them. Such a situation was rarely seen in the past,” the president said.
Animosity between the two countries—which have not had diplomatic relations after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution—has intensified since May 2018 when Trump withdrew from the international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed sanctions lifted under the accord.
“I have no doubt that the Iranian nation will eventually emerge victorious,” Rouhani said, adding that US sanctions amount to “economic terrorism”.
