Rouhani: Iran to file legal case against US for sanctions
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“The enemy made some attempts but never achieved what it desired even when, at times, the pressure was too much,” the president said.
The US plan, Rouhani said, was to “dominate” the Iranian nation, something Washington will never achieve.
“The Americans have only one goal: They wish to come back to Iran and rule the nation again,” Rouhani said, reiterating Iran’s view that US sanctions are aimed at overthrowing the establishment and ushering in one more aligned with US policies.
He urged Iranians to put a curse on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, blaming them for the economic hardship.
“Curse all those who created the current situation: The United States, the Zionists and the region’s reactionary regimes who joined forces to bring the Iranian nation to its knees and take their 40-year revenge” on Iran. Rouhani said the government had managed to “put a brake on the fall of the rial,” but that balance is not yet apparent in the foreign currency market.
On Sunday, the same day he inaugurated new phases in the development of Iran’s massive natural gas field, Rouhani said Iran’s inflation is “above 20 percent” and that this country of 80 million people has over three million unemployed.
He promised to increase wages in both the government and the private sector, and raise pensions. The rial was trading at 131,500 per US dollar on Monday on the unofficial market, about three times weaker than a year ago, but off record lows, around 190,000, hit in late September.
Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati also slammed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other US officials on Monday for waging a “psychological war” to stir panic in the currency market. Hemmati said that “the Central Bank is in full control of the market.”
US sanctions permit partial trade in humanitarian goods such as food and pharmaceuticals but measures imposed on banks, and trade restrictions, could make such items more expensive and more difficult to pay for. Trump said when he pulled out of the landmark 2015 deal that lifted international sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its atomic activities, it failed to rein in Iran’s missile program or curb its regional activities.
Reuters, AP and Press TV contributed to this report.