Fresh Sanctions Show Iran Is Right to Mistrust US: President
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Denouncing the US’ conflicting policy of advocating negotiations and ramping up sanctions against Tehran at the same time, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the Islamic Republic has a right to be mistrustful of the US.
Addressing people in Tehran on Friday, President Raisi lashed out at the US for imposing new sanctions, which he said are aimed at placing restrictions on Iran.
“On the one hand, the Americans send messages that ‘we are prepared for agreement and negotiations’. On the other hand, they ramp up the sanctions. The world should give us the right to distrust them (Americans). They renege on promises,” the president stated.
Highlighting Iran’s success in finding the way out of sanctions, President Raisi said the foreign sanctions must be nullified.
He also noted that Washington’s admission that its policy of maximum pressure on Tehran has ended in a humiliating defeat means that Iran is into the path of progress.
His comments came after the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a network of Iranian firms that help export the country’s petrochemical products.
"The United States is pursuing the path of meaningful diplomacy to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal.
The US administration, under former president Donald Trump, unilaterally left the JCPOA in May 2018 and launched a maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic, despite the latter’s full adherence to its commitments under the deal.
Since April 2021, several rounds of talks between Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA -- Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia -- have been held in the Austrian capital to bring the US back into the Iran deal. The Vienna talks, however, exclude American diplomats due to their country’s withdrawal from the deal.