Nuclear conclusion changed false image of Iran: President Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says with the conclusion of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, the West’s wrong perception of the Islamic Republic has changed.

“My understanding is that … a page has turned in the history of Iran,” President Rouhani said Wednesday while addressing members of his Cabinet, adding that the conclusion showed that the negative image of Iran that had been portrayed in the West has now changed.

Rouhani said the Western governments viewed Iran as a threat to the peace and stability of the region and the world and never wanted to benefit from Iran’s power for settling regional and international issues.

The Iranian president said that the mere participation of Iran in diplomatic efforts to settle the nuclear issue should be viewed as a “legal, political and technical” victory for the country as it showed that the Islamic Republic is ready to engage in high-level negotiations on major issues.

Earlier in the day, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran managed to end a manufactured crisis over its nuclear program by reaching a conclusion to the decade-long negotiations with the world powers.

Zarif, who was speaking to reporters in Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, slammed some major critics of the conclusion, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they have “kicked up a fuss” as Iran managed to put an end to an unnecessary crisis.

Netanyahu, who has been on a combative campaign against the Iran-P5+1 talks, warned Tuesday that the Tel Aviv regime will not be bound by the outcome of the Iran talks, saying what happened at the United Nations building in Vienna was “a stunning historic mistake.”

After 18 days of marathon talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna, Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers – the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – reached a conclusion on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).