Iran to continue resisting US pressures: President Rouhani

'The Americans haven’t achieved and won’t achieve their goals in the economic sector. Of course it’s natural that their pressures cause some problems for the daily lives of the people. But the Iranian nation knows well that there is no way other than standing and resisting against the aggressors' illegal actions,' said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday, addressing his cabinet in Tehran. 

The US on Monday announced it will not renew exemptions past May 2 for the eight countries that continued to buy Iranian energy. Greece, Italy, Turkey, Iraq, Taiwan, South Korean, Japan and India were given waivers from the restored US sanctions, also known as the Significant Reduction Exemption (SRE) last year to purchase oil, gas and condensates from Tehran under the condition they significantly reduce their imports. 

Rouhani stressed that his country is ready for talks under several conditions. 'We have always been the man of negotiations and diplomacy as we are the man of war and defence,' he told his ministers. 

'Negotiations are possible in case all the pressures are removed, they apologize for their illegal actions and talks are carried out with mutual respect,' he noted. 

He rejected the idea that the White House is seeking to bring Tehran to the negotiating table with its 'maximum pressure' policy. 

'It’s not like this at all that some are propagating that the American side is ready for talks. The US is not prepared for negotiations whatsoever and what it does is to defeat the Iranian nation because it aims to return to Iran,” the Iranian president noted. 

“Without a doubt, accepting the demand of mob that is seeking talks out of force and lies will lead nowhere,” Rouhani mentioned, stressing that Tehran will never sit down for talks with “mob because accepting such negotiations means humility and subordination”. 

The US had announced it won’t renew the sanctions waivers in a bid to cut down to zero the Iranian energy exports to the world. 

Rouhani said his government’s first strategy is to 'make the US regret its decision'. 'Later, whenever they come to understand their calculation error and are ready to resolve the problems through logic and argument, we are ready for this,' the Iranian president added. 

He reminded the US of its past failures in Iran, especially during the Operation Eagle Claw that failed to take US Embassy staff out of the country back in 1980. This Wednesday marks the 39th anniversary of the failed mission in the northeastern Tabas desert. 

Rouhani went on to say that the US incited Iraq’s Saddam Hussein to launch a war against Iran in 1980. 'They failed in all of those missions.' 

Washington’s announcement that it won't extend the waivers caused oil prices reach the highs of up to $74 per barrel. Cutting Iran out of the world oil supply chain will add to the market volatility following US efforts to do the same with Venezuela as well as lowered oil production in Libya due to recent wave of internal conflict. 

US President Donald Trump asked Saudi Arabi and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fill the gap that will be caused after May to reduce the prices. 

“The Americans can’t control the world oil market. It’s their own false imagination,” Rouhani warned. 

The Iranian president also cautioned Saudi and Emirati authorities, saying “they should know that their existence and survival will be based on the wise decision of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s government”.

“If the great authorities of the our Islamic establishment and the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei) and late Ayatullah Hashemi [Rafsanjani] hadn’t taken precise decisions when Saddam attacked Kuwait, there wouldn’t have been a trace of these countries,” Rouhani reminded Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. 

“When Saddam was seeking to attack Kuwait, he asked us either to help him or keep silent. He wasn’t only after occupying Kuwait as we see in his letter that he wrote to the late Hashemi, he had explicitly said that Iraq would have 800 kilometers of joint border with Iran in the Persian Gulf. This shows that he wanted to occupy Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and Qatar,” said the Iranian president. 

'You shouldn't forget the big move that the wise leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran did at the time,' Rouhani said as he tried to get his message across to the Persian Gulf states. 

'It was the Islamic Republic of Iran that save Saudi Arabia and if we had taken a different decision that day, there woulnd’t have probably been a print of Saudi Arabia or the UAE,' he added. 

The Iranian president urged the two Persian Gulf states to look for long-standing friendship in the region instead of sticking to the Trump Administration. 


'You, that owe your existence to Iran because of the Islamic Republic of Iran, how could you tell Trump that you would fill the gap if he brings to zero our oil exports?” Rouhani asked rhetorically. 

“Are you aware of the consequences of your words? Do you know this is equal to explicit animosity with the Iranian nation?” he added. 

“Don’t you know that Trump’s time will come to an end while we will stay here and will be your neighbor for a long time to come? You’d better to think about permanent friendship with in the region,' warned Rouhani. 

He also rebuffed the US claim that it will be able to bring down Iran’s oil exports to Iran, calling it mission impossible. “This isn’t possible. We will sell our oil in different ways. The US is causing harm to the world nations, international oil companies and even itself,” Rouhani noted. 

According to the Iranian president, the current US administration’s measures will only unite the Iranian nation rather than divide it. “The maximum of the Americans’ illegal actions is to incite violence on the streets, but with these measures, even if there is a person who is protesting, when they see that the enemy has drawn its sword against the Iranian nation, certainly they won’t go along and will leave aside family feuds,” he said.