The government, which is halfway through its four-year term, has struggled so far to restore calm and will proceed to foster growth, the president said.
"The first half was spent trying to bring calm and stability to various sectors," Hassan Rouhani said, adding, "God willing, in the remaining two years, we will be striving to boost growth and development."
"We moved on from a troubled [situation], facing numerous problems in various social, foreign policy and economic sectors to a settled, stable [situation] and government has been doing everything in its power to avoid opening any new wound in the domestic policy and to shake off old ones."
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, the president fleshed out his argument with a few examples of the feats his administration has pulled off since coming to office in 2013.
"We tried to restore calm to the market to cope with wild fluctuations," he said, adding, "We succeeded in controlling volatility in the equity and commodity markets and restraining inflation," he was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Rouhani renewed his vow to cut inflation to single digits by the end of his term.
Referring to his government's foreign policy he said, "We have established peaceful and stable relations as well as positive interaction with the world and have been able to improve Iran’s image."
“We are at an exceptional juncture where Iran is viewed throughout the world as a country seeking peace and interaction,” which heralds an imminent end to the phenomenon of Iranophobia, the president said.
Pointing to the July nuclear deal with major powers, he noted that passage of the deal by the Majlis would not be in the national interest.
“Under Articles 77 and 125 of the Constitution, only the documents signed by the president or his representative are required to go before the Majlis. We have not signed any (document).”
It is a “voluntary” agreement and if signed by Parliament, it will become binding on the government, he cautioned.
Under a parliamentary bill passed in June, the pact requires Majlis approval before it goes into effect.
Public Perception
On the Feb. 26, 2016 parliamentary poll, Rouhani expressed hope that the voter turnout will be strong and a “glorious” and “competitive” election will be held.
He said efforts need to be made to enhance the people’s perception of the soundness of the election. “God willing, elections have always been clean, but the perception of soundness is something else, [hopefully] we will improve such a perception.”
He added, “As the official tasked with implementing the Constitution, I will fulfill my duties whether it makes some people happy or not.”
