Reuters, Geneva :
The United States constantly sends messages to Iran to begin negotiations, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday in a speech broadcast on state television.
Tensions ramped up between Iran and the United States after President Donald Trump pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal with Iran in May and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic last month.
Trump has said he would meet Iran’s leaders.
“From one side they try to pressure the people of Iran, on another side they send us messages every day through various methods that we should come and negotiate together,” Rouhani said.
He added, “[They say] we should negotiate here, we should negotiate there. We want to resolve the issues… should we see your message?.. or should we see your brutish actions?”
Washington aims to force Tehran to end its nuclear program and its support of terror groups in Syria and Iraq.
US sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector are scheduled to be re-imposed in November.
Iran is facing an “economic, psychological and propaganda war”, Rouhani said Saturday, pointing to America and Israel as the Islamic Republic’s main enemies.
Iran’s economy has been battered in recent months, in part due to Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, which had lifted sanctions in return for curbs to its atomic programme.
Prices are rising and shortages are widespread, while Iran’s currency has lost around 70 percent of its value against the dollar compared with a year ago. Rouhani said that the United States is pressuring Iran and at the same time calling for negotiations “every day”.
“Which one should we believe? Your messages, or your brutal acts? If you want the best for the Iranian people why are you pressuring them?”
Rouhani called for unity after weeks of pressure from both reformist and hardline factions over his handling of the economic crisis.
“We cannot fight America, the left and the right at the same time. We cannot fight on three fronts,” he said.
The president also acknowledged the mounting economic pressure.
“(Yet) we cannot back down from our goals because of temporary difficulties. Remember those (war) days, our heartaches brought us to eventual victories.”
Rouhani made the remarks during an event named after Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Iran’s second president whose assasination in August 1981 was blamed on the political-militant group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK).
