Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States for mounting pressure in the Middle East and around the world on Sunday, as tensions between the two countries raised concerns that military conflict could be imminent.
“Most of the regional and international problems have been caused by dictatorship and bullying of certain countries, especially the United States, whose roots are in violating international law and moving on the path of unilateralism,” Rouhani told Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) President Gabriela Cuevas Barron on Sunday, according to a report in the Tehran Times.
Rouhani called the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and subsequent imposition of sanctions “economic terrorism,” further accusing the United States of committing “crimes against humanity,” due to the sanctions’ affect on the general Iranian public.
Rouhani told Barron that “Iran’s fixed approach is reducing tension, avoiding military conflicts and promoting international peace.”
Barron alluded to the broken nuclear deal between the United States and Iran, stating, “today, the world should learn a lesson from Iran’s successful experience of interaction and respect [for] dialogue and international agreements,” according to the report.
On Monday, Iranian navy commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi was quoted by the Tasnim news agency as warning that “everyone saw the downing of the unmanned drone,” a reference to the Thursday downing of an American spy drone over the Strait of Hormuz. “I can assure you that this firm response can be repeated, and the enemy knows it,” he said.
