Iranian President dismisses US calls for diplomacy, citing potential sanctions

The President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, has openly dismissed American pleas for negotiation, hours before new sanctions against Iran were to be imposed.

The decision to impose new sanctions on Iran follows US President Donald Trumpā€™s decision to exit a 2015 regarding Iranā€™s nuclear weapons program.

Regarding the sanctions, Washington says that only by agreeing to negotiations to scale back nuclear programs would they be averted.

In an address on Iranian state television, Mr Rouhani said there would be no negotiation as long as the USA was reneging on the nuclear deal. Mr Rouhani then compared the USā€™s actions to stabbing Iran with a knife and that to begin talking they must ā€œremove the knifeā€.

He said that Iran was ā€œalways in favour of diplomacyā€ but that Trumpā€™s calls for talks were only an attempt to appease Americans and to ā€œcreate chaos in Iranā€.

The United Statesā€™ European allies tried and failed to convince Mr Trump not to abandon the 2015 nuclear agreement , under which Iran would curb its nuclear weapons program in return for a lessening of international sanctions.

The Iranian President went on to say that the USA ā€œwill regretā€ the new sanctions and that they were ā€œisolated in the worldā€, citing the disapproval of its allies.

The news of potential sanctions has already had a net negative effect on the Iranian economy, lowering the value of its currency and causing the Government to crackdown on civil unrest.

Mr Rouhani has called on his nation to unite behind him in face of the difficulty.

Donald Trumpā€™s administration has argued that the 2015 nuclear deal did not go far enough in curbing Iranā€™s nuclear program and wants to renegotiate. Iran believes that because it abandoned the 2015 deal, the USA cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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