President Rouhani Reveals US Repeated Calls for Talks with Iran

“On one hand, they pressure the Iranian nation, and on the other hand, they send us messages through different channels every day calling for negotiations,” President Rouhani said, addressing a festival in Tehran on Saturday.

Addressing the White House officials, he said, “Should we believe your softness in messages or your brutal acts? If you are sincere and like the Iranian nation, why do you want to exert pressure on people’s lives?”

President Rouhani underscored that Washington and its allies are making a mistake if they think that they can force the Iranian nation to bow to pressures and surrender to the US after several months.

In relevant remarks in August, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined that Iran would not sit to the negotiating table with Washington, and declared a strong ban on talks with the US.

“Recently, the US officials have been talking blatantly about us. Beside sanctions, they talk about war and negotiations. They talk about a spirit of war to frighten the cowards,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing a large number of Iranian people from all walks of life in Tehran.

“In the matter of negotiations, they play a poor game. One of them says, negotiations with preconditions, another one says, negotiations without preconditions. Let me address the people on the matter in a few words: There will be no war, nor will we negotiate with the US. This is the gist of the word that all the Iranian people should know. The US has now suggested negotiations; this is not new. This has existed since the beginning of the revolution,” he underlined.

Ayatollah Khamenei explained to the audience why Iran has decided not to negotiate with the United States, and asserted, “Why won’t we negotiate? The US negotiations formula is this; because the Americans rely on money and power, they consider negotiations as a commercial exchange; when the US wants to negotiate with a party, they determine their main goals, and then they won’t retreat even a step away from these goals; they demand the other party to pay a privilege immediately; and if the other party refuses to comply with them, they start to make a fuss, so the other party would surrender; the US itself does not pay anything in exchange for what it takes from the other party; the US only makes strong promises in order to enchant the other party with mere promises; in the final stage, after receiving all the immediate advantages, the US breach their own promises.”

“This is the method of the American negotiations. Now should we negotiate with such a fraudulent government? The JCPOA was a clear example of this,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, and added, “Even if we ever – impossible as it is – negotiated with the US, it would never ever be with the current US administration.”

Ayatollah Khamenei banned any negotiations with the US, saying, “The Islamic Republic can negotiate with the US only when it reaches the power and sovereignty that would nullify US’s pressures and domineering efforts; when those efforts have no effect on Iran. Today this is not the case. Thus, I will ban negotiations with the US just as Imam (Khomeini) did.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution slammed US rhetoric towards Iran, and stated, “The US has become more blatant and ruder in their rhetoric over the past few months. Previously they were not so observant of diplomatic etiquette in their speech either; however, they have become ruder towards all nations.”

Ayatollah Khamenei drew an example of US’s blatancy in actions and rhetoric, and said, “The example of it is that during the last week, the Saudis committed two crimes: attacking a hospital and attacking a school bus with 40 or 50 innocent children on board. Do you have 8 or 9 year-olds at home? This is a dramatic tragedy. It truly breaks one’s heart. The news shook the global conscience. But how did the US react? Instead of condemning the crime, the US said, “We have strategic relations with Saudi Arabia.” Is this not shamelessness? What the US president did to two or three thousand children by separating them from their parents, putting them in cages because they were immigrants is an unprecedented crime in history.”

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington would no longer remain part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and promised to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions against Iran.

The sanctions reinstated on Iran on May 8 included boycott of Iran’s crude supplies and bans on transfer of its crude revenues. There is a 180 days interval before these sanctions come into effect. Other US secondary sanctions were reinstated last month.

After Trump’s declaration, the Iranian government issued a statement, calling the US withdrawal as “unlawful”. The statement underlined Iran’s prerequisites for continuing the deal with the five world powers. These conditions that were reiterated later Ayatollah Khamenei mainly included Iran’s guaranteed crude sales and transfer of its revenues back home.

Two months later, the other five powers party to the nuclear deal have failed to satisfy Iran. President Hassan Rouhani voiced his disappointment over a recent package of incentives proposed by the European Union countries to Tehran, and said that the Islamic Republic expected a much better, clearer and explicit stance by the EU.

“Unfortunately, the EU’s package of proposals lacked an operational solution and a specific method for cooperation, and featured just a set of general commitments like the previous statements by the European Union,” President Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 5.

President Rouhani pointed to US’ unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and said, “After the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran has been dealing with economic issues and problems in banking relations and oil, and foreign companies that have invested in Iran are skeptical about continuing their business.”

The Iranian president, however, said that the package proposed by the three European countries (the UK, Germany, and France) on how they are going to live up to their commitments and cooperation under the JCPOA was “disappointing”.

President Rouhani reiterated that the JCPOA was a mutual commitment, and said, “Iran had expected a clear plan from the three European countries after the two months’ time they have been given to come up with solid guarantees to ensure Iran’s economic interests would continue to be met despite US pullout and reinstatement of sanctions.”

The Iranian president, however, said that Tehran would continue cooperation with Europe if the outcome of the July 6 Vienna talks would be promising.

“If the process of the European foreign ministers’ meeting in Vienna, which is aimed at encouraging Iran to cooperate, is promising, we will continue our cooperation with Europe,” Rouhani added.

But the Vienna talks July 6 among foreign ministers from Iran and the five world powers (Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain) failed to satisfy Iran with senior officials in Tehran complaining that the Europeans had offered nothing new to ensure Iran’s continued merits under the deal.

On July 8, the Iranian parliament’s research center has readied a comprehensive plan that includes a detailed list of policies and moves to fight off sanctions as Washington sped up attempts to rally international support for intensified pressures on Tehran.

The comprehensive “active anti-sanctions plan” that has been compiled at the parliament research center after long studies and consultations with experts from Iranian research and academic centers, traders and entrepreneurs is now under study by senior Judiciary, Parliament and Government officials for a final editing.

The program that mainly aims to make the country “unsanctionable” has been developed in contrast to the US sanctions program and has reportedly been edited seven times so far, several MPs told FNA.

Information obtained by FNA reveals the program offers a package that also involves social and cultural measures to reinvigorate the country’s economy and infrastructure against the US sanctions that come into effect from 90 to 180 days after their re-imposition and seek to wear off Iran’s economy step-by-step.

The plan also entails specific time-based nuclear, security and political leverages that would be enforced in reprisal for enemy threats, while it also envisages transient waivers that could be extended, halted or annulled based on relevant decisions by authorities.

The plan to make Iran sanction-proof includes detailed measures in two 90-120 days and 180-210 days periods in various areas of monetary, banking and currency sector, liquidity management and deterring middlemen disruption and negative interference, optimized forex reserves management, facilitated money transfer in the international market, reduction of intermediary currency role, strategic commodities, budget resources and use, energy, business, trade, structures, culture, society, media and legal affairs.

Meantime, several other plans have also been compiled by university and research centers for improving economy through reinvigoration of national potentials to make the country sanctions-proof.