BICOM

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic would negotiate with the US if it lifts sanctions and apologises for leaving the JCPOA nuclear deal.

Speaking before a weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, Rouhani said: “We have always been a [country] of negotiation and diplomacy, the same way that we’ve been a [country] of war and defence. Negotiation is only possible if all the pressures are lifted, they apologise for their illegal actions and there is mutual respect.”

Referring to the recent US announcement about the end of sanction waivers for Iranian oil purchasers, the Iranian President said that it was “not possible” for the US to monopolise the global oil market and vowed that Iran would continue to sell its oil abroad “using various means”.

Rouhani also stressed that: “Talks with a knife-wielder who claims to favour negotiations but uses force and lies will bear no fruit. We will not hold talks on the basis of a knife-wielder’s attitude. Accepting such negotiations is tantamount to humiliation and surrender.”

Speaking in New York on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif cautioned US President Donald Trump against taking the “crazy measure” of attempting to block Iranian oil sales. Zarif said Iran will continue to find international buyers for its oil and use the Strait of Hormuz to transport it. He warned that if the US tries to prevent Tehran from doing so it should “be prepared for the consequences”.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US’s efforts to halt Iranian oil sales “will end nowhere. We are able to export as much oil as we need and wish. They [the US] need to understand that this hostility [will] not go unanswered. The Iranian nation will never remain silent in the face of their enmity.” Khamenei also suggested that the oil ban was a blessing in disguise, as it serves Iran’s good by making its economy “less dependent upon crude sales”.