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Iranians will wait out US-led sanctions: Expert

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Press TV has interviewed Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, from Tehran, to discuss recent remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei over US-led sanctions against Iran.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Please elaborate on the Leader’s comments, and also of the fact that he says the resistance economy will stand up against the illegal sanctions imposed by the West and the United States.

Marandi: I think one of the most important aspects to his statements is basically that he’s sending a message to the United States and its partners, that the Iranians are prepared to withstand sanctions for a very long time, and that the United States must forget the notion that Iran may capitulate and relinquish its right on the country.

I think that’s perhaps a key element in this because the United States and its partners in Europe seem to be under the illusion that President [Hassan] Rouhani will somehow capitulate to the Americans, even though President Rouhani’s Foreign Minister [Mohammad Javad] Zarif has repeatedly said that Iran will not accept anything that is less than its full rights within the framework of the NPT. They said this dozens of times, each of them.

The so-called Iran experts in the West and especially in the United States seem to believe that President Rouhani is being one thing for the Iranian people, but he’s going to do something else in reality. I think that’s a misreading of President Rouhani. I think what he says should be seen to be not only the official statement but exactly what the policy that he’ll be pursuing.

I think Ayatollah Khamenei, by saying Iran is going to pursue resistance economy, is basically reinforcing this notion that the Iranians will wait out the sanctions and will continue with their peaceful nuclear program.

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