President Says Country’s Situation Is “Not Normal”

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

According To Iran News, President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran is prepared to sit at “any negotiating table” if the talks are necessary for serving the country’s national interests.

“Some think if we talk to the world, our hands would lose their power. No! … Those who say we shouldn’t interact with the world seem to be unaware of what their words mean,” Rouhani said in a ceremony in Kerman on Tuesday.

“If we don’t interact, it means we get isolated. Our enemies want us to be isolated; why should we? We would talk to the entire world. We would sit at any negotiating table if the talks are necessary for our national interests. We’d do it proudly,” he said.

He also pointed to the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and highlighted the benefits it has had for the country despite the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions.

“Today the CEO of this plant told me the inauguration of the project was made possible with the 2015 nuclear deal. Many of the prerequisites of the plant could not be imported to the country, but it was made possible with the JCPOA.”

“Those who cannot get this reality must understand it well. It’s not just this plant; yesterday I received the same report in Yazd. They said they have managed to import important parts thanks to the JCPOA,” he went on to say.

“All the accomplishments we had in South Pars Gas Field within a few years – where we opened 11 phases – were because of the JCPOA,” the president said.

Rouhani also said the country’s situation has never been as “difficult and complicated” as it is today. He admitted that U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil exports are making it difficult to run the affairs of the country.

Speaking in the city of Kerman in south-eastern Iran on Tuesday, Rouhani admitted for the first time that “the country’s situation is not normal,” and that “Iran is experiencing one of its hardest years since the 1979 Islamic revolution” which brought Shiite clerics to power.

“Without money, we cannot run the affairs of the state,” Rouhani said referring to the sharp decline in Iran’s oil revenues, adding, “Although we have some other incomes, the only revenue that can keep the country going is the oil money.”

Rouhani said Iran needs $45 billion annually to run its government, adding that Iran would have had an oil revenue of $60 billion if we could export oil.

“We have never had so many problems in selling oil. We never had so many problems in keeping our oil tanker fleet sailing,” Rouhani said, asking “How can we run the affairs of the country when we have problems with selling our oil?”

He said, “It is difficult to reactivate oil wells when extraction is suspended,” adding that Iran has spent $800 million in 2015 to bring oil wells back online following international sanctions.

Rouhani explained that to some extent Iran can make up for the deficit in oil revenue by collecting full taxes but noted that the government is able to collect only up to one third of estimated taxes.

Speaking about the heavy burden of sanctions on his administration, Rouhani said “It is difficult to trust Trump. Iran would have entered negotiations with the United States had there been another President in office in Washington.”

Referring to his visit to New York to take part in the UN General Assembly meeting in late September, he added that Iran would have sorted out its problems with America before the end of September if there was another U.S. President in office.