Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reasserts Iran’s determination to hold onto its independence and domestic freedom under whatever circumstances, expressing confidence that the next administration in Washington will inevitably surrender to the Iranian nation’s resilience.
“Any US administration after the upcoming elections will have no choice but to surrender to the resilience of the Iranian nation,” Rouhani said, addressing the 75th UN General Assembly [UNGA] via video-link from Tehran on Tuesday.
“The United States can impose neither negotiations nor war on us. Life is hard under the sanctions. However, harder is life without independence,” he said.
“Political freedom at home is important for us. We, as the oldest democracy in the Middle East, are proud of our people determining their destiny, and will not trade domestic freedom with foreign interference.”
Therefore, the Islamic Republic resists being used as “a bargaining chip in US elections and domestic policy.”
As America’s 2020 presidential polls draw nearer, the administration of US President Donald Trump has considerably ramped up its tireless efforts to demonize the Islamic Republic.
Most recently, the US tried preventing expiry of an anti-Iran arms embargo that will take place in October under an international nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and others.
And later, it tried returning all of the UN sanctions against Iran by using a so-called snapback mechanism that is included in the deal.
Both of the bids were either shunned or vetoed by the majority of the UN Security Council’s members, who reminded Washington that it has left the nuclear accord, thus losing all of its contractual rights.
Rouhani also hailed the Islamic Republic’s triumph in the episodes as “a victory, not just for Iran, but for the global community… A victory that an aspirant of hegemony is humiliated in such self-created isolation.”
The Trump administration has been trying such hostile maneuvering against the Islamic Republic under the president’s trademark “maximum pressure” campaign.
Rouhani compared the treatment to African-American citizen George Floyd’s agony under the US police’s brutality, saying, “The valiant people of Iran have been paying the price of its freedom-seeking attitude and liberty from dominance and despotism for decades in the same way.”
He called Iran “the harbinger of dialog and tolerance, and the champion of the fight against occupation and extremism” that has played a pivotal role in all international and regional peace and reconciliation processes.
“Mr. President, such a nation does not deserve sanctions. The response to peace is not war. The reward for combating extremism is not assassination,” he added, referring to the assassination by US terrorists of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC], in Iraq in early January.
The Iranian president finally called on the international community to seize upon the opportunity to stand up to Washington’s aggressive ways.
“And for the world: Today is the time to say ‘No’ to the bullying and arrogance,” he said.
“The era of dominance and hegemony is long over. Our nations and children deserve a better and safer world, based on the rule of law. Now is the time for the right choice,” Rouhani concluded.
Source: Agenceis
