Iran withstands Washington's ‘maximum pressure’ as US power declines: IRGC commander

The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the Iranian nation continues to resist Washington’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign as the US is losing its power and influence both inside and outside its borders.

“Today, following the teachings of the Quran, the Iranian nation has chosen to remain patient and withstand all maximum pressures [exerted on it by the US administration] and this is just the beginning for a nation, which has never trusted its oppressor enemy even for a second,” Major General Hossein Salami said while addressing a ceremony in Tehran on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump, a hawkish critic of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism.

The US unleashed the so-called maximum pressure campaign and targeted the Iranian nation with draconian restrictive measures in order to bring it to its knees, but Iran's economy keeps humming and is getting back on its feet.

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The Islamic Republic, however, adopted antithetical economic measures under Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s directive of “Resistive Economy,” and also started to take nuclear countermeasures to retaliate against the United States and others’ non-commitment to the JCPOA.

Iran’s countermeasures have now prompted many world officials, media outlets, and observers to outspokenly identify the American campaign as an abortive one.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the IRGC commander said, "The Iranian nation is resisting all kinds of ‘maximum pressure’ because its power to resist is much greater than pressures mounted on it.... The enemy has taken aim at [the Iranian] people’s health, security, livelihood ... and people are exactly aware of this reality and are standing against the enemy with all their might."

“At the present time, we are witness to the reality that ... the United States, as the symbol of the West’s power, is in decline and this reality is undeniable,” Major General Salami said, adding, “The US is falling apart from within ... and its power and influence have greatly reduced outside [its borders].”

Stressing that the United States is currently grappling with major economic problems, the chief commander of the IRGC said the US military power has been also worn out, because of its 40-year confrontation with the resistance of the Iranian nation's “corroding power,” which has engaged its military and defeated it on many occasions.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said earlier this month that the time for the United States’ policy of exerting ‘maximum pressure’ on other countries, including the Islamic Republic, is over and this policy has failed to produce any results.

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Alluding to Trump’s policy of mounting maximum pressure on Iran to force the country to submit to Washington’s demands, Rouhani said, “All signs and indications in the current world, from America to Europe, show that the world has understood that the [policy of exerting] maximum pressure is not effective and its time is over.”

A senior Russian diplomat also said on Saturday that the so-called ‘maximum pressure’ policy pursued by the United States against Iran has failed to fulfill Washington's demand to target the country's economy and has only led to humanitarian sufferings. 

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“US proudly (and justifiably) states that maximum pressure campaign had a devastating effect on Iranian economy. But this is one side of the coin,” Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, said in a post on his Twitter account.

Read more:

• US’s maximum pressure against Iran in its last days: Iranian Passive Defense Org.
• US maximum pressure policy on Iran ‘costly’ failure: Chief nuclear negotiator
• US maximum pressure failed, proud Iranians stand tall: Foreign Ministry spokesman
• US 'maximum pressure' against Iran failed: Washington Post

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