Iran to take its money back from US: Pres. Rouhani

“The common ground between Saudi Arabia and the USA is that both countries violate the international regulations, laws, and commitments,” said President Rouhani of Islamic Republic of Iran in response to a question asking him why he criticized both the US and the KSA in his UNGA address and what the commonalities those two countries had.

The Iranian president made the remark in the press conference scheduled at the end of his stay in New York late on Thursday.

“What we expect from the US is to be committed to its international commitments as the JCPOA is not a bilateral agreement but a multilateral deal,” reaffirmed the Iranian president, “the JCPOA is an international obligation and the US should observe her commitments promised in the deal.”

Touching upon the seizure of $2 billion of Iranian frozen assets in the US by Americans, the Iranian president described it as an international robbery and a dangerous act. He condemned the move and reassured that Iran will get the money and the added interest back via the legal procedure underway in the International Court of Justice.

“Disagreements with Saudi Arabia are not about bilateral issues but the regional issues,” underlined the head of Iran’s government in clarifying Iran-Saudi Arabia tensions, “Saudis are intervening in the regional issues, and we are protesting because they are violating international regulations, commiting crimes against civilians in Yemen, and mistreating the pilgrims who are visiting the holy places.”

Referring to the implementation of the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed by Iran and 5+1 on July, 2015, in Vienna and put into action in February) he held that months of negotiations over one of the most complex issues of international concern fruited into an agreement that has been into practice for 8 months.

“We conveyed the very message to the world that enrichment is an indispensable right of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” asserted the Iranian president, “the anti-Iran sanctions were a wrong measure from the very beginning that entailed loss for all countries and the JCPOA removed all of them.”

Mr. Rouhani maintained that the sanctions were touching two important fields namely the energy, oil, and gas section as the first and banking relations as the second. He stated that the first area has been completely dealt with and all the sanctions regarding the energy sector have been removed but the sanctions affecting the banking relations were still causing problems. He called for all parties of the agreement to meet their commitments according to the JCPOA.

“Terrorism is borderless and like a contagious virus it has spread to Africa, Europe, Asia, and America, and have troubled the whole world,” said President Rouhani touting upon the issue of terrorism, “I am delighted to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been acting as a stronghold block to terrorism, al-Qaeda, and the ISIL, and we call all countries to join us in serious war against terrorism.”