Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 19, 2019—Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani described the attack on important oil facilities in Saudi Arabia as a measure to warn western countries, acknowledging the mullahs’ direct role in this flagrant act of terrorism targeting the world economy.
“They attacked an industrial site to warn you (the U.S., Arabic, and European countries) and teach you a lesson,” he said in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, resorting to the mullahs’ language and making his regime’s role crystal clear in these unprecedented assaults. With such remarks, Rouhani is officially blackmailing the West through warmongering measures carried out by the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The U.S. State Department recently designated the IRGC as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO).
In further remarks, Rouhani explicitly portrayed the Iranian regime’s support for terrorist organizations such as the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hashd al-Shaabi (PMF/PMU) in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and the ruthless Assad regime in Syria.
On Tuesday, Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei broke his month-long silence to explicitly reject any negotiations with the U.S. at any level, be it during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York or anywhere else. Khamenei emphasized neither bilateral nor multilateral talks will be taking place with the U.S. In his remarks, Khamenei used the phrase “maximum pressure” 20 times, signaling his escalating concerns over the crippling nature of U.S. sanctions targeting his regime and the IRGC’s terrorist apparatus.
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Khamenei also dismissed efforts by European states to mediate talks between the U.S. and the Iranian regime as part of the "maximum pressure" campaign.
Khamenei had gone into silence during the past month, especially as infighting among senior regime officials was intensifying.
Khamenei’s remarks come a day after Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani rejected rumors of possible unconditioned talks with the U.S., and a few days after the regime launched a massive missile attack on Saudi Arabia.
In his remarks, Khamenei described promises of negotiations as a “trick” and said, “Sometimes, they say negotiations without prerequisites, other times, they say negotiations with 12 conditions. Such remarks are either due to their turbulent politics or a trick to confuse the other party.” Khamenei concluded that in any negotiations, his regime would have to concede to the demands of its counterparts.
Regarding the current policy of the U.S. toward the Iranian regime, Khamenei acknowledged that his regime will not change its behavior unless there's a firm policy. “The U.S. pursues a policy of maximum pressure on Iran through various embargoes, intimidation, and distorted claims, because the current U.S. government believes that the Islamic Republic cannot be brought to its knees, humiliated, and made to submit, through an indirect approach,” Khamenei said.
Previous U.S. administrations had sought to cajole the Iranian regime and curb its illicit activities through concessions and appeasement. But by closing their eyes on the many crimes this regime commits, they had only provoked the regime to intensify its illicit activities.
Khamenei remarked that any negotiations would be a defeat for his regime and said, “Their goal of pursuing negotiation is to prove to everyone that maximum pressure has been effective, and the Islamic Republic officials were forced to sit at the negotiating table despite claiming that they would not negotiate. Thus, the only way of dealing with Iran is through maximum pressure.”
Khamenei also dismissed any mediations by European countries to talk with U.S. authorities, describing their efforts as the extension of the U.S.’s maximum pressure policy. “[The Europeans] are insisting that a meeting with the U.S. President would solve all our problems because they want to prove that the maximum pressure policy has been effective in dealing with Iran, and this policy must be pursued,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei concluded by saying that any negotiations with the U.S. would be the imposition of the U.S.’s demands on his regime, and any negotiations would be proof that the maximum pressure campaign of the U.S. has been effective.
“It is for this reason that the country's officials, from the President to the Foreign minister and others, have unanimously announced that we would not take part in talks, be it bilateral or multilateral, with the United States,” Khamenei said. “If the U.S. backs off and repents, and implements the nuclear deal from which they have withdrawn, then the U.S. can also take part in and talk during negotiations between Iran and the countries that are part of this deal. Otherwise, there will be absolutely no negotiation between the officials of the Islamic Republic and the U.S. at any level; neither in New York and not anywhere else.”
