Iran: Rouhani hits back at Trump, pledging to continue ballistic missile enrichment

Kerry cautioned lawmakers to “tread carefully” in pushing ahead with new sanctions against Iran in the wake of President Hassan Rouhani’s re-election last week to another four-year term.

Ultimate power in Iran rests not with the president but with the supreme leader, who is chosen by a clerical panel and has the final say over all matters of state. The revolution was also young.

For Trump, Iran had terror links with at least 25 different countries on five continents.

“Even in the most hard-line corners of the nezam [System], the republican nature of the Islamic Republic is appreciated and they know they can not neutralize public demands, and will have to allow the president to deliver”, said Adnan Tabatabai, an Iran analyst and head of the Bonn-based Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO).

“The United States continues to waive sanctions as required to continue implementing US sanctions-lifting commitments in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action”, the State Department said in a statement, referring to the deal by its formal name. A lot of this has been documented by the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Rouhani won because he gave Iran a face of negotiation with the world.

Rouhani was re-elected in a landslide win Friday, after his first term saw a major nuclear arms deal with world powers in 2015.

Iran, which held presidential elections Friday, is a sharp contrast, Zarif noted, to the inherited monarchy that rules in Saudi Arabia.

There’s limited hope for greater domestic political freedoms either. A moderate cleric, incumbent Rouhani was pitted against hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, who was reportedly backed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. During the call, Putin once again offered congratulations to Rouhani on his landslide reelection victory.

It is a “transactional deal” in which the Arab states would help Washington revive the peace process in exchange for a much tougher USA policy against Iran, he said.

Stressing that Tehran is committed to its promises in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) until the other side does so, he said: “Russia’s cooperation in the implementation phase of the JCPOA and nuclear cooperation between the two countries are welcomed by us and Tehran is ready to operationalise its nuclear agreements with Russia”. No solutions to problems such as the highly destructive war in Syria will be possible without full Iranian involvement. As part of the July 2015 multinational accord, Iran also regained access to frozen assets held overseas.

“The problem is that the Americans do not know our region and those who advise USA officials are misleading them”, he added. It’s also true that genuine reformers and dissidents urged their followers to vote for Rouhani. Iran has sent a powerful signal on that front. Many students may vote from a narrow set of options, but the students they elect must yield to those who wield real power, the teachers and the school’s administrators.

Western journalists and analysts are hardly alone. However, it doesn’t prevent Americans from helping (and making good money from military contracts at the same time) Saudi Arabia and Israel in the fight against Tehran’s growing regional influence.

From his campaigns and his presidential speeches, national interests and constructive interaction are going to shape Iran’s future. That was during another election. But Ahmadinejad stole that election, and the state arrested thousands of citizens who had the temerity to take their grievances to the street. “Iran used to be a civilized nation in the world and regarded as one of the richest, yet the only aspiration Iranians have today is for a free Iran”. A US policy of mere pressure and threats will not change Iran or its policies.