Iran not excited about Biden win, but happy with Trump departure: Rouhani

President Hassan Rouhani says Iran is not excited about the election of Joe Biden as US president, but is happy with the departure of Donald Trump, the “most rogue” and “law-breaking” American leader so far, who did not even abide by humanitarian principles in dealing with the Iranian nation.

“We are by no means excited about [Joe] Biden coming to power, but we are happy with Trump leaving as a terrorist and a person who even blocked Iran's access to [COVID-19] vaccines; we are happy because he failed to adhere to basic moral and human principles,” Rouhani told a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday.

He also stressed that today’s situation is completely different from that of 2015, when long-running negotiations culminated in the nuclear deal, officially called the Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)/

“In 2015, when we were negotiating the JCPOA, the sword of six resolutions was above our head, but today this sword is broken. Back then, the PMD (Possible Military Dimensions in the nuclear case) was another threat that does not exist today,” Rouhani said.

The JCPOA was signed between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of countries, the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany, and ratified in UNSC Resolution 2231.

However, Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstated the anti-Iran sanctions that had been lifted by the deal.

The Trump administration also unleashed the so-called maximum pressure campaign and targeted the Iranian nation with the “toughest ever” restrictive measures.

Following Washington’s exit from the deal, the remaining European parties failed to fulfill their end of the bargain under US pressure, prompting Iran to move in May 2019 to scale back its JCPOA commitments under Articles 26 and 36 of the accord covering Tehran’s legal rights.

US president-elect Biden has, however, pledged to rejoin the accord, which was inked when he was vice president.

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Rouhani further said, “In 2015, the world public opinion had been wrongly swayed to believe that Iran would not fulfill its commitments. However, we have proved in the JCPOA that we are the most committed country in the world. We negotiate hard and obsessively, but if we sign [a deal], we will honor our promise. This is while even the P4 + 1 countries failed to implement their obligations.”

He highlighted the US isolation at the UN given its failure to garner support for its anti-Iran resolutions.

“In those days [prior to the deal], the P5+1 group was against us, but today the United States is isolated and all countries, except for one or two small puppet states dependent on America, oppose the US’s withdrawal from the JCPOA,” Rouhani emphasized.

The world has learned about the resistance of the Iranian nation, he said, noting, “We are standing on our own feet, but at the same time, if [the opposite side] returns to its commitments, we will also return to all our commitments.”

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