S Arabia looking for tension with Iran to cover up defeats in region

TEHRAN (defapress) – President Hassan Rouhani hailed Iran's good relations with most of the regional countries, underlining that some countries like Saudi Arabia are looking for tension with Iran to cover up defeats in the region and internal problems.

News ID: 67179

Date: 29 November 2017 - 11:15

President Rouhani made the remark during a televised interview on Tuesday night and presented the 100-day report on the 12th Administration's performance in various economic, political and cultural fields.

Elaborating more on his 100-day report, Rouhani said "annually, 985,000 new jobs have been created and we will strive to increase it to 900,000 in coming years."

"We have started a good development in rural areas with $1.5 billion of credit", he said adding that the government would continue its policy of harnessing inflation.

Pointing to foreign countries presence in Iran, Dr. Rouhani stressed "Iran is literally a transit hub of the region and we have had $23.1 billion definitive finance agreements with foreign countries in the past 100 days."

Rouhani also touched upon the banking issues and investment funds situation saying that they have tried to expand the government control over all the banks and investment funds.

Referring to the fact that banks are in need to reassess their performances, president said, "some people think that shortcoming in the implementation of the nuclear deal leads to banking issues, but that is only one problem; the banks need to make their performances transparent."

Stating that the basis of the 12th Administration's foreign policy is to continue to interact constructively and respectfully with the world, Rouhani said "the regional issues must be resolved through dialogue, not confrontation."

"Iran's assistance to the Iraqi government and nation was the basis for the stability of the region, he added, saying "the recent cooperation between Iran, Russia and Turkey shattered the foundations of terrorism in the region".

"We have made a very good relationship with the European Union. Relations with Russia and most of the neighbours are better than the past," Rouhani asserted, adding "we have good relations with most of the regional countries, including Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Qatar, but some countries like Saudi Arabia is looking for tension with Iran to cover up defeats in the region and internal problems."

The two wings of "diplomacy" and "military power" are necessary for realising the goals of foreign policy, he continued saying.

Our main strength is nation, but we will certainly strengthen our military power and diplomacy, added the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Elsewhere in his speech, Rouhani referred to the achievements made by histori nuclear deal, known as JCPOA; "we resolved the international problems that had been set against us; cancellation of the UN resolutions against our country is a great achievement."

Pointing to US barriers on the implementaion of JCPOA so far, he said US administration's attempts to cancel JCPOA has so far failed, a plot supported by only one or two countries, but Europe, China, Russia and the rest of the world took a different stance.

In the current situation, national solidarity is highly regarded, Dr. Rouhani said, adding "the balance of branches, institutions and armed forces must be maintained and the government will seek further engagement with them."