Foreign Policy
Tue May 21, 2019 1:33
President Rouhani: No Negotiations under Current Situation
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Tehran will not come to the negotiating table under the current situation, adding that his country, however, has always championed dialogue and engagement.

“I, myself, am in favor of negotiation and diplomacy, but do not approve of it under the current circumstances at all,” president Rouhani said on Monday, in a meeting with a number of religious scholars and personalities in the capital city of Tehran.

Rouhani reminded how the country had rejected a proposal for talks made by five world leaders during his visit to the United Nations’ headquarters in New York last year. Also last year, Tehran likewise ignored eight separate offers for negotiation with Washington, which had been forwarded by the US State Department, he added.

“The circumstances of the day are not (such that would be appropriate) for negotiation at all. Today, our situation is (one characterized by) resistance and steadfastness,” the chief executive stated.

There Iranian people and authorities see perfectly eye to eye on the premise of resistance against the United States and its sanctions, Rouhani said.

He, however, asserted, “I do not perceive the road ahead to be a dead-end one at all,” adding that in order for the country to surmount the obstacles in its way “all have to realize that we are in conditions of economic war, and should help one another out”.

The president hailed that Iran was never the one to start matters in its standing conflict with the US.

As the US administration seeks to intemidate Tehran into talks, Iranians have remained adamant, stressing that no war is in the offing although the country's military forces are fully ready to provide a crushing response in defense if they ever come under strike.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei told a gathering of senior Iranian officials that he saw no possibility of war between Tehran and Washington, adding that the recent US military buildup in the region only aimed at frightening Iran to yield to the White House demands, but Iran stands strong.

Addressing the heads of the country’s executive, judiciary, and legislative branches as well as other senior officials, parliamentarians, and important figures in the country’s political, social, and cultural spheres earlier this month, Ayatollah Khamenei ruled out the possibility of war between the United States and Iran despite heightened tensions between the two sides, saying Washington knows engaging in such a conflict would not be in its interest.





As an example, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “They (Americans) say we should negotiate over your (Iran’s) defensive weapons, (questioning) why do you build (for instance) a missile with a given range. Reduce the range (of your missiles, they say,) so you would not be able to hit our bases.”

The Leader further played down Washington’s highly belligerent rhetoric against Iran, saying its real capability did not match its loud bluster, and that it “needs to engage in (such bluster).”


The Leader pointed to the absence of integrity in the US administration, noting how various American officials contradict each other on a daily basis. The American society, he added, is also afflicted with rampant socioeconomic problems and violence.

Ayatollah Khamenei, meanwhile, also highlighted how Washington’s policies regarding Europe and Asia had backfired.

“In (its) policy of confrontation with the Islamic Republic too, the US will definitely suffer defeat, and (the situation) will end up to our benefit,” the Leader said, citing warnings by American analysts that Washington’s pressure on Tehran would, contrary to its intended purpose, trigger an “economic mutation”.






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