Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, has said his country will never surrender under the guise of negotiations.

Iran Press/Iran news: “Until I am in charge of the executive affairs of the country, we are fully ready for fair, legal negotiation based on respect and dignity to resolve problems, but we will not surrender under the name of negotiation,” Rouhani said, speaking in a cabinet session on Wednesday.

According to President Rouhani's official website, he added:  “One of the efforts of the government from the beginning of its term has been to break the stalemate in the political stage and possible agreements.”

He continued, “The first thing that the 11th government did was to break the political stalemate in the international stage and the government could remove the obstacles in its first 100 days as promised, leading to the Geneva Agreement”.

 Rouhani added, “Saudi Arabia and the usurper Zionist Regime spared a lot of effort to prevent the final agreement from happening,” stating that the government continued its path with determination.

“Based on this agreement, a great deal of our country’s money was unfrozen and the goods that were seized in foreign customs entered the country,” said the President.

He continued, “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was an effective factor for fighting to smuggle.”

Rouhani added, “The United States withdrew from the deal, believing that Iran would do the same the day after, which would lead to the re-imposition of all international sanctions against our country.”

“Recently, Saudi Arabia and the Prime Minister of the Zionist Regime announced that they played a part in the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA, not to mention the extremists inside the US. Of course, their actions proved that the JCPOA was heavy for Zionists and the regional reactionaries to bear,” he continued.

After the US’ withdrawal from the JCPOA, we gave an opportunity to the world so that the two sides could live up to their commitments, and that the other side could fill up the vacuum of US’ exit, said the President, adding, “We waited for a year, which was a very strategic, historic patience.”

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran also went on to say, “We acted cautiously towards the US’ withdrawal until we could sell our oil to the amount we desired, but since they began their fully-fledged sanctions against our oil, we are in new conditions; therefore, we made firm decisions to reduce our commitments under the new conditions.”

The President pointed out, “In the first 60 days, although the other side made some moves, we did not see enough, so we later abandoned two other commitments. In the meantime, many efforts and proposals were made by various countries to stop us from reducing our obligations, and they made some moves, but their proposals were not balanced enough in our opinion, and undoubtedly if their actions were enough, we would accept them.”

Rouhani added, “As we have repeatedly emphasized, the reduction of our country's obligations is temporary and if they fully comply with their obligations, we are able to return to the previous situation, and if the other party takes the right and balanced action, and a ceasefire in the economic war is announced, there will be an opportunity to talk to each other and to come to a conclusion. Of course, there are countries as intermediaries, and there are correspondences and calls underway, and everyone should know that we will never miss the opportunity for negotiation.”

He reiterated, “We consider surrendering not right, and the Iranian nation and constitution will not accept it, but we are always ready for a fair, respectful negotiation, and we are ready now.”

Rouhani said, “We are in contact with European countries and other countries in the world, but we have not reached the desired point until now, because the proposals were not balanced, but we will continue the political process, and if we do not come to a conclusion and the second 60-day opportunity is over, we will surely take the third step.”

"The Strait of Hormuz has a very important location; it’s not to be taken as a joke or for a country to ignore international regulations, and enter the region in the wrong direction and disregard the IRGC’s warnings, who are responsible for the security of the Strait of Hormuz," he added.

Iran's President noted, “The main responsibility for protecting the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf is mainly with Iran and neighbouring countries and is not the others’ business, and the Iranian nation has always been the protector of the Persian Gulf”.

Rouhani said, “We will not let anyone lack discipline in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, but we are not looking for a military tension; the actions we have taken so far have been in accordance with the violations of the opposite side, as the case of the intruding drone proved".

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Rouhani: Iranian nation never surrender to US pressure and sanctions