Gov’t Will Make Every Effort to Secure Removal of US Sanctions

President Hassan Rouhani said his administration will do everything in its power to realize the rights of the Iranian people by securing the removal of unjust sanctions imposed by the United States.
“Anytime we see that we can reclaim the rights of the Iranian people, I, as president, would not lose a moment to do this. We do not care if some people are upset about this,” Rouhani said on Thursday, President.ir reported. 
He denounced as “cruel” and “inhumane” the sanctions imposed by former US president, Donald Trump, on Tehran, saying the sanctions, which have persisted to this date, have impacted all sectors of the country.
“But some people are not familiar with this [fact]. They make up percentages and say 30% of the problems are due to the sanctions and 70% due to mismanagement,” he said.
The president stressed that such estimates are completely wrong and misjudged because they do not know in what areas the sanctions have adverse impacts and cause problems, and which sanctions affect the entire production, agricultural and industrial sectors.
Trump began to put pressure on Iran soon after he took office as US president in January 2017. He threatened other countries to not do business with Iran and issued new sanctions on Tehran only months into his presidency, in moves that were denounced in Tehran as violations of the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.
He finally withdrew the US from the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018 and slapped the “highest level” of economic sanctions against Iran, prompting Tehran to take tit-for-tat measures in response to his bellicose Iran policy.
His successor, Joe Biden, has promised to abandon that approach and rejoin JCPOA. Diplomatic efforts began in Vienna early this month on the revival of the deal, US lifting of sanctions and its subsequent return to the agreement. 
While the US is not an official participant in the talks, its diplomats are holding regular meetings with other signatories, except Iran, on the sidelines of the Vienna talks, which have been described as “constructive” and “businesslike” by the participants and the US. The talks are yet to bear fruit. 
The participants are to resume another round of discussions in Vienna next week on the fate of the UN-endorsed agreement, after consultations in their respective capitals.

Three Steps 

Rouhani said his administration will not hesitate to act once it sees that the other side is ready to observe laws and regulations “no matter what the opponents say” or “whatever force they exert”. 
He also thanked the Foreign Ministry and other governmental bodies that have striven to “break the sanctions” through ongoing negotiations in the Austrian capital.
The remarks came a day after Rouhani said Iran is seeking the “strict implementation” of JCPOA, and “not a single word more or less”.
“The JCPOA must be implemented effectively,” Rouhani said on Wednesday. “We want the strict implementation of the JCPOA, not a single word more or less.”
The president said the revival of the nuclear pact must include three steps, the first of which is the removal of sanctions by the United States.
“The second step is verification [by Iran] and we can announce [the result of] the verification in a short span of time,” he said.
The third step will be Iran’s complete resumption of nuclear obligations that “we will execute thoroughly”, he concluded.