Rouhani: Stop blaming governments; recognize power of nations

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has advised the warmongering states to recognize the rising power of regional nations and stop the blame game against certain governments.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Rouhani recalled the Saudi-led coalition’s years-long carnage of Yemeni people and its bombardment of the Arab state’s civilian infrastructure and said the enemies launch wars in the region but are surprised to see nations rising up and responding to their aggression.

The great Yemeni nation, he said, is standing “vigilant and watchful” in the face of the aggressors today.

On Saturday, Yemeni armed forces conducted a large-scale drone operation on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities in response to Riyadh’s years-long military aggression, causing a partial halt in crude and gas production from the world’s top oil exporter.

The US, a major sponsor of the Saudi war on Yemen, used the opportunity to swiftly blame Iran for the attack, a claim sharply rejected by both Iran and Yemen.

PressTV-Iran rejects US ‘lies’ about Yemen raids on Saudi oil sites

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The ill-wishers of people in the region “need to start  to believe the power of nations” instead of constantly attempting to level accusations against  governments, said Rouhani. “You should know that no government is at work, it is the nations that have risen up.”

Rouhani also noted that it was not the Yemeni nation, but Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the US and the Israeli regime that initiated the war, which has gripped the region for more than four years, and destroyed Yemen.

Rouhani exclaimed that Yemen’s latest retaliatory strike on Saudi oil facilities had raised so much hue and cry, as opposed to the global silence against the Saudi crimes committed against the people of Yemen over several years.

“Why is it that no one should make a comment when the Yemeni nation is under attack while weapons and munitions are flowing into the region? How come no one should speak out when US President Donald Trump acknowledges that Saudi Arabia spent $400 billion in the US last year, but it sparks so much fury when Yemeni people react to the aggression and strikes a target?”

The Yemenis “have not targeted a hospital, a school or a bazaar; rather; an industrial center as a warning,” Rouhani said, urging the enemies to learn a lesson from the warning and work to “extinguish the fire” they have ignited in the region.

“Igniting wars has always been your policy. You have brought insecurity to the region, over the past 19 years, wherever you have entered, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and the Persian Gulf region,” Rouhani said.

He also expressed Iran’s keenness to establish friendly relations with its southern neighbors just as it has with the states located to its north.

‘No talks under maximum pressure’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani noted that the Americans cannot reach their objectives through the maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

“I declare to the American officials that negotiations under maximum pressure are impossible and if you are telling the truth and really seeking negotiations, you need to halt all the pressure against Iran,” he said.

He also underlined the importance of efforts underway to substitute national currencies in trade transactions with Turkey, Russia and Iraq, saying such strategy could solve problems in developing bilateral bonds.

“Today, on the world stage, a serious fight has got underway against the dollar and if continued, the US dominance on global monetary and financial markets will weaken,” he added.

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