President Rouhani: Iran Not to Surrender to Any Power

“In my opinion, once again it became clear to our people that the US government is a government that continues its previous policies against the people of the region, against the Iranian people and against the oppressed peoples. The Iranian nation is not a nation that surrenders to a dictator by false statements and hate speech and the great nation of Iran has never surrendered to any power,” President Rouhani said in his televised speech on Friday night, reacting to an earlier statement by US President Donald Trump against Iran.

Trump in a major confrontational stance against the Islamic Republic of Iran on Friday refused to certify multilateral deal on Tehran peaceful nuclear program and imposed further sanctions against the country’s elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

Speaking from the White House on Friday, Trump said he will choose not to certify that Tehran is complying with the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers (the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

He said that the new policy is aimed at preventing what he claimed Iran’s effort to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the US president announced sanctions on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). He accused the security body of destabilizing the Middle East and threatening American interests in the region.

What follows is the text of President Rouhani’s televised speech published by official website of Iran’s president:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Hello and good night to the great, understanding Iranian nation. I would like to inform the great people of Iran, after the words of the current president of the United States was heard, that firstly, in the words of Mr Trump on Iran's policy, there was nothing except insults and a pile of false accusations against the Iranian nation.

I invite the US president to read more about history, geography, international commitments, politeness and ethics, and international conventions.

Apparently, he does not know that the US government set up a coup sixty-some years ago, and it was a power that overthrew the rule of law by making money and leveraging its mercenaries.

Apparently, he has forgotten that during the integrated campaign of the Iranian people against the dictatorship to gain freedom, independence and the Islamic Republic in this land, it was the United States that greatly supported the dictator of the time in Iran.

Apparently, he has forgotten that after the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution and at the very earliest days, the US plot in Iran was a coup which, of course, was repeated once again in 1980.

Apparently, he has forgotten that in the eight-year defense of the Iranian nation against aggression, the United States backed the aggressor; he has forgotten the bombings of the cities of Iran, as well as the chemical bombardment of Sardasht and Halabcheh, when it was supposed to issue a statement against the aggressors, it acted exactly the opposite way. We should read the history better and more precise, to find out what they have done to the Iranian people in the past sixty-some years few years; how they treated the Iranian people during the 40 years after the revolution.

We should also study geography to find out how a president has not yet learned the name of the famous, historical and global Gulf: the Persian Gulf, which, unfortunately, the American warships are constantly coming and going. He should have at least asked his military advisors how they write the name of this Gulf in their maps. Therefore, they need to study geography more.

He has not apparently read international law. How can a president alone cancel a treaty that is a multilateral and in one sense, international document, as it has been approved in the United Nations? He apparently does not know that this is not a bilateral document between Iran and the United States, on which he can act in any way he likes.

Politeness and ethics are also important; false, defamatory lies and accusations against the great nation of Iran [is not accepted]- a great nation that, as tonight’s speaker came to the Persian Gulf region, attended the great elections in historic numbers. Is a nation and government, which is respectful of democracy and its culture and faith and has consistently respected all its international treaties and obligations, rebel? Or a government that has always been pursuing aggression and coups in this region and in the world, and has killed hundreds of thousands of people in different parts of the world from Vietnam to Latin America and in other countries with bombs? The country that claims to have stood against nuclear weapons, is the only country in the history of the world that has used nuclear weapons against a nation, not once, but twice. And today, it is threatening another country in the same region with nuclear weapons. Does a nuclear-armed country that has used nuclear weapons and also contributes to the development of nuclear weapons in countries that have close relations with it, such as the usurper Zionist Regime, want to take global actions against the proliferation of nuclear weapons?

In my opinion, once again it became clear to our people that the US government is a government that continues to its previous policies against the people of the region, against the Iranian people and against the oppressed peoples. The Iranian nation is not a nation that surrenders to a dictator by false statements and hate speech and the great nation of Iran has never surrendered to any power.

The Iranian nation will not give up and yield to any power. There were many countries that supported Saddam and failed to break our nation. There were many countries that joined the sanctions against Iran and it was proved to them that they could not make the Iranian people surrender. Today, it became clearer for the Iranian nation that we should be together more than ever before.