President Rouhani:Enemy Will Take Hope of Defeating Iran to Grave
TEHRAN (Basirat) : The United States is trying to make Iran surrender through the imposition of sanctions, Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said on Wednesday.
New U.S. sanctions against Iran took effect last week, and President Donald Trump said companies doing business with the country will be barred from the United States.
"The first priority for all of us under a sanctions situation is to work toward
managing the country in a way that brings the least amount of damage to people’s
lives," Fars News quoted Jahangiri as saying. "America is trying by applying
various pressures on our society to force us to retreat and surrender."
The new sanctions targeted Iranian purchases of U.S. dollars, metals trading,
coal, industrial software and its auto sector, though the toughest measures
targeting oil exports do not take effect for four more months.
Few U.S. companies do much business in Iran so the impact of sanctions mainly
stems from Washington’s ability to block European and Asian firms from trading
there.
President Hassan Rouhani made similar comments, although he did not specifically
refer to the United States.
"We will not let the enemy bring us to our knees," Rouhani said. "If the enemy
thinks they will defeat us they will take this hope to the grave with them."
Washington had said Iran’s only chance of avoiding the sanctions would be to
accept an offer by Trump to negotiate a tougher nuclear deal than the
international accord struck in 2015. Trump pulled the United States out of this
agreement with world powers in May.
"America itself took actions which destroyed the conditions for negotiation,"
Rouhani said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). "There were
conditions for negotiation and we were negotiating. They destroyed the bridge
themselves," he said. "If you're telling the truth then come now and build the
bridge again."
Iranian officials have already rejected Trump's offer and on Monday Leader of
the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said there would be neither
war nor negotiations with the United States.
"Recently, U.S. officials have been talking blatantly about us. Beside
sanctions, they are talking about war and negotiations. Of course they do not
openly talk about wars, but they intent to imply that there is a ghost of war
that would scare the Iranian nation or scare those who fear," the Leader said.
"In this regard, let me say a few words to the people: There will be no war, nor
will we negotiate with the U.S.,” he added.
Source:KEYHAN
