Rouhani says US isolated on Iran sanctions and will ‘fail’

TEHERAN — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that the US hostilities toward the Islamic republic will fail.

In reference to US “conspiracies” against Iran over the past 40 years, Rouhani said Washington “is more than ever hated by Islamic and regional countries”.

“We have no doubt that the United States cannot continue the path and policy that it has taken regarding the Islamic world and its allies,” he added.

Iran will continue its interactions with friendly governments of the world, the Iranian president vowed.

“The US will fail in its new plots,” he said, referring to the impending United States sanctions against Teheran.

“The government pledges to the people that there will be no problems for the country in terms of energy, transportation, basic goods and production,” Rouhani said.

Separately, a clerical body tasked with vetting legislation rejected legal reforms proposed by parliament to bring Iran into line with global money laundering norms, the state news agency IRNA reported.

The Guardian Council ruled that, based on Iran’s constitution, such legal amendments should be proposed by the judiciary and not parliament, IRNA said.

If parliament insists on its proposal, the issue can be decided by the Expediency Council which can rule in disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council.

Iran has been trying to implement standards set by the Financial Action Task Force, a global group of government anti-money-laundering and counter financing of terrorism regimes, in the hope it will be removed from a blacklist that makes some foreign investors reluctant to deal with it.

In late June, FATF said Iran had until October to complete the reforms or face consequences that could further deter investors from the country, which is already faces a likely return of US sanctions.