President: Geneva Deal Signifies Powers’ Surrender to Iranian Nation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the November nuclear deal between Tehran and the six major powers as a clear manifestation of the world powers' admission that the Iranian nation is entitled to enjoy peaceful nuclear energy.
“The Geneva deal… means the major powers’ surrender to the great Iranian nation,” Rouhani said on Tuesday, addressing a huge gathering of people in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan.
“The Geneva deal means the world’s acceptance of the peaceful (nuclear) technology that we have acquired thanks to our young scientists’ efforts and devotion,” the president added.
He further praised the landmark nuclear deal as a prelude to the removal of the unilateral sanctions imposed against the country in recent years, and described anti-Iran sanctions as "unjust".
In similar remarks on November 26, Rouhani had announced that the Geneva accord has created cracks in the sanctions regime imposed against the country.
Iran and Group 5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program on November 24, based on which the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities and to allow more inspection of its nuclear facilities.
The Geneva deal also stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran and Tehran will provide the world verifiable guarantees that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Earlier this week, the two sides reached an agreement to start implementing the Geneva nuclear deal as early as January 20.
And in recent remarks, US President Barack Obama also hailed the agreement about Iran's nuclear program and argued that imposing additional US sanctions could scupper the deal.
Obama also urged the US Congress not to impose additional sanctions on Iran, saying that doing so risked undermining the November 24 agreement, known as the Joint Plan of Action.
"Imposing additional sanctions now will only risk derailing our efforts to resolve this issue peacefully, and I will veto any legislation enacting new sanctions during the negotiation," he said in a statement, echoing a previous veto threat.