Islam Times - Iranian president vows due response to any US sanctions

Islam Times - President Hassan Rouhani has vowed that Iran will reciprocate the sanctions that will be imposed by the United States against the Islamic Republic “under any pretext.”

“Surely, if the Americans seek to apply any sanctions against us under whatever title or pretext, the great nation of Iran would aptly respond to them,” President Hassan Rouhani told a government session on Wednesday.

The administration of US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that it was imposing new economic sanctions against Iran over the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program.

The US Departments of Treasury and State said they were targeting 18 Iranian individuals, groups and networks. The sanctions freeze any assets the targets may have in the US and prevents Americans from doing business with them.

Rouhani further said the Iranian Parliament would ratify certain measures in response to US congressional measures against the nation.

The nuclear-related sanctions against Iran were lifted under its 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, including the US.

However, since Trump’s inauguration, Washington has slapped a series of sanctions against Iranian natural and legal persons over the Islamic Republic’s missile work, which is not in breach of the nuclear agreement.

Also on Monday, the Trump administration certified to Congress that Iran was in compliance with the accord. It had also verified Iran’s compliance once back in April.

Washington, however, alleged that Iran was “in default of the spirit” of the deal.

Last Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif has said the US was both in violation of the text and the spirit of the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

While working feverishly across the international community to tarnish Iran’s global image, Washington has also prevented the deal from fully yielding the intended results by refusing to offer international financial institutions the guarantees they need in order to restore transactions with the Islamic Republic.

Trump has called the agreement “a very bad” deal, and, as a presidential candidate, he had threatened that he would rip it up.

The United Nations and the European Union have, however, warned that the US could not unilaterally rescind the multilateral agreement. They regard the deal as a triumph for diplomacy and a major contributing factor to regional and international peace and stability.

Adding to his Wednesday remarks, Rouhani said, “We are glad that our partners in the P5+1 steadfastly employed perseverance to safeguard the JCPOA.” He was referring to the group of nations, with which Iran signed the deal, namely the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany.

“As always, the Americans launched into action duplicitously and two-facedly,” he added.

Every country’s political position, he said, had to do with how much it could be trusted when it comes to international accords. In the new era, the US was trampling upon many of its obligations, Rouhani said, citing Washington’s going against the Paris climate deal and its intentions for rapprochement with Cuba.

“This shows that the US cannot be a promoter of human rights, legal positivism, stability, and security in the world. A party, which is not stable itself, does not respect laws and regulations, and does not honor its own signature, cannot invite others to stability, security, and calm,” the Iranian chief executive concluded.