Iranian President Insists US Needs to Backtrack

"They should return from the wrong deeds they started to do, and whenever they step back from where they started this plot, we will be ready," President Rouhani said, addressing a ceremony in the Northwestern province of Ardabil on Wednesday.

He said President Trump is needed to first express regret in words or through action to admit that he has done a wrong move to discard the nuclear deal and return to the agreement; then "we will be ready to speak with you, and listen to you if you have any words to say and you will listen to us if we have anything to say".

President Rouhani underscored that neither the US nation nor its government is superior to the Iranian nation and government. "Of course, we respect your nation and strongly protest at your government and condemn what you have done, but meantime, we state that the way is clear (for you) to return."

In relevant remarks in December, President Rouhani had stressed that his country's resistance would finally force Washington to step back on the path it had paved and stop imposition of sanctions against Iran.

“The Americans have no choice but to return from the path that they are paving and we will force them to do so with our resistance,” President Rouhani said, addressing a group of Iranian expatriates in Malaysia.

“(Imposing) sanctions is a lose-lose approach and needs to stop in a point; I believe sanctions cannot continue as it is an illegal measure,” he added.

“Sanctions create some problems but they can be turned into opportunities if we show resistance,” Rouhani said, adding, “today, everyone knows that the US withdrawal from the JCPOA has benefited nobody, even America, and its friends.”

“The US and the Israeli regime were seeking to isolate Iran and to make Iranian people lose their patience and stand against the Establishment through ‘maximum pressure’; however, despite hard economic conditions caused by unfair sanctions which are even targeting food and medicine, the nation has resisted and turned the enemy’s maximum pressure to opportunities.”

Rouhani said that during his tenure, the Islamic Republic made it clear to the world that it considers dialogue as a solution for the differences as proved in the case of Iran nuclear deal.

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