TEHRAN, Iran (CBSDC/AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claims that sanctions against his country imposed by the United States and other Western powers are “unraveling.”
Rouhani made the comment while touring an Iranian province.
“With your support, this government has taken the first steps toward the lifting of the brutal sanctions,” Rouhani said, according to The Jerusalem Post. “We will witness the sanctions shattering in the coming months.”
Rouhani continued: “We already see the sanctions unraveling.”
The U.S. reached a deal with Iran last year over its nuclear program, temporarily easing some sanctions over Iran curbing its nuclear program.
Rouhani said Tehran “never pursued nuclear weapons and never will,” according to The Post.
The Iranian leader also blamed former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the country’s economic hardship.
“Due to the brutal sanctions and unwise administration, our country has faced myriad problems in the past years … but we will break down the inhuman sanctions,” Rouhani stated, according to the Post, adding that Ahmadinejad passed “tactless policies.”
The United States’ ambassador to the United Nations says talks about Iran’s nuclear program are continuing undisturbed by Washington’s decision to block Tehran’s ambassador to the diplomatic body.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power on Sunday told ABC’s “This Week” that Iran’s selection of Hamid Aboutalebi to be its United Nations envoy is not acceptable. She says Tehran should pick someone else.
Iran has rejected that suggestion following Washington’s refusal to give Aboutalebi a visa to enter the United States.
Aboutalebi was a member of the group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Aboutalebi has insisted his involvement in the Muslim Students Following the Imam’s Line was limited to translation and negotiation.
The U.S., Germany, Britain, France, China and Russia with meet with Iranian negotiators in Vienna next week in attempts to draft a long-term nuclear agreement.
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