Trump will suffer same fate as Saddam: Iran's Rouhani

President Hassan Rouhani says Iranians will defeat US President Donald Trump like what they did to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

He made the remarks in a military parade in Tehran on Saturday to mark the beginning of the week that commemorates Iran's eight-year resistance against Iraq’s 1980-88 invasion.

About 600 vessels took part in the Persian Gulf naval drill, a day after Iran held aerial exercises in the waterway, vowing that a "pounding reply" awaited the country's enemies.

Trump withdrew from a landmark multilateral nuclear deal in May and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic last month. 

"Saddam did not achieve its objective during the imposed war despite being supported by all global and regional powers," Rouhani said.

However, he added, Iran secured a military, moral and political victory.

"We won back our territory from the aggressor. The UN and the Security Council designated Saddam as the person who began the war and all the countries that had helped Saddam later expressed regret and confessed to their crimes," the Iranian president said.

"The same story will happen to Trump and America will suffer the same fate as Saddam."

Today, 38 years into Saddam's invasion and violation of the 1975 Algiers agreement, the US government is repeating the same story of Saddam, Rouhani pointed out.

He criticized US President Trump for failing to respect international laws and lambasted his decision to reneged on America’s commitments in a multilateral agreement like the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that has been endorsed the Security Council.

"Today, it not more a proxy war. The US has directly stood against the Iranians nation and began reneging on its pledge," Rouhani said.

PressTV-'US complaints about Iran missiles disingenuous'

An analyst says Iran has the right to self-defense under international law and US complaints about the country's missile program are “disingenuous”.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian chief executive stressed that the country would not abandon its defensive weapons and would rather boost them.

"Iran will neither abandon its defensive weapons nor decrease its defensive capability. We will increase our defensive power day by day. The fact that you are angry about our missiles means that our most effective weapon is our missile.” 

'US not trustworthy'

In an article published in the Washington Post on Friday, Rouhani said that either all the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would benefit from the accord or none of them, stressing that Iran would not remain silent toward America’s bullying.

After its withdrawal from the JCPOA, the US expected a "hasty" Iranian pullout so that it could forge an anti-Iran alliance and re-impose sanctions, but the Islamic Republic "thwarted such a move" through its talks with the remaining parties to the agreement and their reiteration of compliance with the deal.”

"In our current talks with the remaining JCPOA participants, we have emphasized that safeguarding the long-term interests of the Iranian people is paramount to us. If these interests can still be secured despite the United States’ withdrawal from the accord, we will remain in the deal; otherwise, we will pursue a different course of action," he said.

"Our logic is simple and straightforward: Either all parties to the deal will benefit, or none will. Silence in the face of open US bullying of other countries to cut economic and trade relations with Iran, in blatant contravention of the established rules of international law, is simply not acceptable, and not an option for us," he added.

Trump introduced the first wave of anti-Iran sanctions in August and threatened that the second wave would “ratchet up to yet another level” in November. Nevertheless, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed Iran's full compliance with the JCPOA, which has been endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Additionally, the Iranian presidnet criticized the US policy towards Iran, saying it is "out of step with the realities on the ground" and "not even in line with US national interests." He further emphasized that the Iranians would withstand US pressures.

"Fed by disinformation and fake analysis from terrorist groups and Israel, the US administration is under the illusion that resorting to sanctions will lead to concessions from Iran. Iranians, though, are known to close ranks and put up stiff resistance in the face of external pressures," Rouhani said.

He also said that Trump’s offer of direct talks with Iran "is not honest or genuine" while his "pretensions of support for the Iranian people are hollow, hypocritical and unconvincing."

"How can we be convinced of his sincerity while his secretary of state has gone so far as to set a long list of openly insulting pre-conditions for talks? Worse still, how can we trust the US government now that it has officially reneged on its international commitments, most notably UN Security Council resolution 2231?" he asked.

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