Rouhani: US Can No Longer Dictate Policies to Regional Countries

Local Editor

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US has no longer any influence on relations between countries in the region, stressing Washington will no longer be able to dictate its policies to regional states.

“Our neighbors … have explicitly told the US that the era of dictating policies to others is over and the US cannot decide for the region and relations between regional nations and countries from thousands of kilometers away,” Rouhani told reporters at Mehrabad International Airport before leaving for Ankara for an official two-day visit at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Rouhani, in Ankara to co-chair the 5th Turkey-Iran High Level Cooperation Council meeting, hailed Turkey’s “firm” stance on unilateral US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

He said that Turkey, as friendly key regional player, was of high significance to Iran.

Back on May 8, US President Donald Trump announced that he would abandon the Iran nuclear deal, reached between Tehran and six world powers – the US, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany in 2015. He also announced that he would reinstate the sanctions against Iran that were lifted as part of the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA].

Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to limit parts of its peaceful nuclear program in exchange for the removal of all nuclear-related sanctions.

In August, Trump ordered all nuclear-related sanctions that were removed under the deal to be reinstated immediately.

Turkish officials, including Erdogan, criticized the US for re-imposing its unilateral sanctions against Iran, stressing Ankara’s determination to keep economic ties with Tehran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani said that matters of mutual interest as well as regional and international developments would be on the agenda of talks between the two sides during the visit.

Rouhani also said promotion of economic relations, including in the banking system, energy sector, oil and gas and transit, will be discussed and certain agreements would be signed during his visit.

He said efforts to increase bilateral annual trade from 10 billion dollars to 30 billion dollars would be among his top agenda of discussion.

Among other issues to be discussed during the visit are regional security and fighting terrorism, the Iranian president said.

Touching on the Syria crisis, Rouhani highlighted the significance of a recent meeting between the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Russia over the Arab country in Geneva.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team