No nuclear deal unless sanctions removed: Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says there will be no deal on Iran’s nuclear program unless unfair sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic are lifted.

“The world, the P5+1 group, the US administration, US President [Barack Obama] and Senate should know that there will be no deal if the sanctions are not removed,” Rouhani said during an address to an audience of people in Rasht, the  capital of the norther Iranian province of Guilan, on Wednesday.

“The end of the negotiations [between Iran and the P5+1 group] and the time of signing a [final] deal should be [the time of] declaring an end to and the lifting of cruel sanctions on the great Iranian nation,” President Rouhani added.

In the upcoming nuclear talks, “sanctions” will be the main focus of the negotiations between Iranian side and the P5+1 group, Rouhani stressed.

“We want interaction in return for interaction. We want goodwill in return for goodwill,” the Iranian president added.

Rouhani stressed that whatever hardliners in the US and the Senate, as well as the allies of the US in the region say is of no concern to the Iranian nation and administration. The negotiating side in the nuclear talks is the P5+1 group, not the US Senate or the House of Representative, he stressed.

Expounding on Iran’s strategy in the nuclear talks, he stressed, “Our path [in the nuclear talks] will be the path of moderation, interaction, dialog and logic, and getting the right of the great Iranian nation [to a peaceful nuclear program] recognized."

The agreement between Iran and the P5+1 countries on Tehran’s nuclear program will benefit the entire world, Rouhani stated.

Iran and the P5+1 -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany -- reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 2.

The two sides are expected to start drafting a final inclusive deal, which they seek to sign by the end of June.

According to the joint statement, which is considered the basis for a final nuclear deal, the two sides have devised a mechanism to lift anti-Iran sanctions after the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is reached.

This is while the US has announced the sanctions will be lifted gradually. 

Bombing gets nowhere 

Referring to the Saudi aggression against Yemen,  Rouhani stressed that “bombing the oppressed won’t get you anywhere.”

"Why are you bombing the oppressed Yemeni people, destroying the infrastructure of a weak country, and killing women and children by the warplanes supplied by the US?” Rouhani asked.

“Do you want to dominate the region? [By] using the dollar in the past and bombs in the present?,” Rouhani further asked rhetorically.

Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against Yemen started on March 26, without a UN mandate, in a bid to restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. More than 2,600 people have been killed in the aggression so far.

“We seek building up stability and security in the whole region,” the Iranian president said, adding that the Islamic Republic of Iran has aided the countries beset by terrorism and insecurity in the region, so that terrorists cannot succeed.

“The way to stability and security is interacting with countries and respecting the votes of the people in the region,” he said.