President Rouhani: We’re doing all in our power to neutralize, eliminate US sanctions

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic is doing all in its power to neutralize and eliminate unjust and illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the administration of outgoing US President Donald Trump.

“We are doing all we can to render these sanctions ineffective and eliminate them and everybody must work to this end. All three branches [of the government] must join hands under the guidance of Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] and I promise people that they will see better days in terms of livelihood, health, and shattering of [US] sanctions,” the president said while addressing a ceremony held to inaugurate a number of the Ministry of Petroleum’s projects on Thursday.

Rouhani called the sanctions “the joint work of the US’ radicals, Zionists, and the reactionary regional regimes.”

Trump’s administration returned the United States’ stringent economic sanctions against Iran after taking the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a multi-party nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers.

Last Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic should not wait even “an hour” to try to have the sanctions removed if this could be done through an honorable process that guaranteed preservation of the country’s esteem. However, the Leader advised the nation and government to focus primarily on trying to neutralize the sanctions instead of seeking to secure their removal.

Leader: Revenge for General Soleimani murder certain, will come in due time

Ayatollah Khamenei says revenge for Iran’s senior commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimeni, who was assassinated by the US, is certain and will be exacted at just the right moment.

Rouhani reiterated Ayatollah Khamenei’s assertion, saying, concerning the sanctions, the first step to be taken was to help neutralize or lessen their effect. “The second action [we should take] is to eliminate and break down the sanctions,” the president noted, citing the Leader.

He referred to the Islamic Republic’s success in replacing its oil exports, which the enemy had sanctioned, with petrochemical sales as an instance of its triumph in the face of the illegal bans.

“We should extinguish the blaze [billowing in the form] of the sanctions as soon as possible. We don’t need anybody's pity,” he said.

The Iranian president said by potentially relieving the sanctions, the enemy would not have done Iran any additional and undue favor, adding that by stopping the sanctions, the Americans would have actually just “stopped their crime” against the Iranian people.

The chief executive promised the people that they would be witnessing better conditions concerning their livelihood and health system towards the end of the year and throughout the upcoming one.

Iran’s recent inauguration of a whole host of developmental projects “delivered a big blow to the global arrogant powers that had sought to enforce an [all-out] closure on the country,” Rouhani hailed.

Nursing “inchoate ideals,” he said, they wanted to have our people stand in long queues for bread. However, 30 years of US-led economic war did not realize this objective as would not as many more, the president asserted.

“I believe that this war has lasted out its duration,” he said, reminding that Trump, the last of the US presidents, who was “viciously” leading this warfare, is going through the last moments of his political career.

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