Iranian President Hasan Rouhani said on Tuesday stressed that if the US really wants to hold talks with the Islamic Republic it should lift sanctions first.
Rouhani warned that “peace with Iran is the mother of all peace” and “war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”
Rouhani made the remarks as he was visiting Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif a few days after the administration of US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on him.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran favors talks and negotiations and, if the US really wants to talk, before anything else it should lift all sanctions,” Rouhani said in remarks aired live on state television.
“Whether they want to come into the JCPOA or not, it’s up to them,” said Rouhani, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“All sanctions should be lifted so that there will be no criminals facing us,” he said, accusing the US of committing acts of “economic terrorism” for blocking imports of food and medicine.
“So if it wants talks, it must prepare the path for it. The path to it is repent. There is no other way.”
Talking about the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Rouhani said many undermining measures were taken to make the agreement fail.
“It was the will of God that revealed to the world that the Iranian nation has a great political and diplomatic power. That we have logic on our side and we will succeed,” he stressed.
He went on to add, “we signed an agreement that neither friends nor enemies could say was a bad deal for Iran.”
“Our enemies said from the beginning that the nuclear agreement was bad for them and beneficial to Iran. Even Trump said the same thing, when he said ‘Iranians never lost a negotiation!’”
Defending Zarif after sanctions imposed on him, Rouhani said: “When our foreign minister speaks in international communities, everyone knows that he is talking on behalf of the Iranian nation, not a certain power.”
“However, there are many countries whose representatives speak on behalf of a major power, or just repeat the words of a major power in a different way.”
Source: Agencies
