Iranian President Hasan Rouhani stressed on Wednesday the Islamic Republic will not surrender to the US pressure, sanctions and even threats of war.
“They think they can make the Iranian nation surrender by putting pressures on Iran, by sanctions and even threats of war… The Iranian nation will resist against the US plots,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
Rouhani said US President Donald Trump expected Tehran to leave the nuclear deal after the US withdrawal, adding that the Islamic Republic had refused to follow that plan by trying to save the deal with its remaining signatories.
“Trump played his first card, but miscalculated the second move… as Iran did not follow that plan,” Rouhani said according to the Iranian agency.
Trump announced the US withdrawal from the JCPOA last Tuesday and outlined plans to re-impose sanctions on Iran which had been lifted as part of the accord. Other signatories to the JCPOA, however, criticized Trump’s decision to unilaterally pull out.
The JCPOA — signed by Iran, the P5+1, and EU in 2015 — requires Tehran to maintain a peaceful nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran has been in full compliance with the terms of the JCPOA as verified in 11 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection reports released since the deal’s inception.
Source: Agencies
