Iran Prepared to Confront Any Aggression, Rouhani Tells Macron

President Rouhani made the remarks in a phone conversation on Tuesday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

“If the Americans decide to invade Iranian waters and airspace, the armed forces of the Islamic Republic will confront them and give a crushing response,” Rouhani said.

President Rouhani went on to say that the Islamic Republic is not interested in heightening tensions in the region and has never been after a war with any country including the US.

“We have always remained committed to the regional peace and stability and have done our best to contribute to the regional security,” he said.

He then referred to Iran’s full compliance with the Iran nuclear deal and its waiting for the Europeans to fulfill their promises to guarantee Iran’s economic benefits under the deal including removing obstacles in the banking ties and sale of oil and said unfortunately none of the Europeans’ promises have been fulfilled yet.

“If Iran can’t benefit from the economic aspects of the JCPOA, it would scale down its commitments under the deal based on articles 26 and 36 of the nuclear accord,” he said.

The Iranian president then underlined that Iran will never sit for another round of talks over what was achieved two years ago and said by violating the international law through exerting pressure on the Iranian nation, the Americans showed that they are not after resolving the issues.

He said the Islamic Republic has always contributed to lasting developments in the region along with France and will do the same in the future.

“If the other sides of the Iranian nuclear deal had lived up to their pledges under the nuclear accord, today, we could witness some positive and promising developments in the region..”

The US president’s unilateral move to pull out of the JCPOA is detrimental to the interest of the people of the US, Europe and Iran as well as the regional and international stability, he said.

President Rouhani called the US “main source” of the regional tensions and said the armed forces of the Islamic Republic are duty bound to defend their country and they will once again give a crushing response if the Americans decide to violate Iran’s airspace.

He then referred to the US new set of sanctions and said as far as the US has not lifted its sanctions, nothing will get back to its normal course.

For his part, the French president expressed regret over the US unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and said France has always contributed to efforts to preserve the JCPOA and has done its best to convince all sides particularly the US to remain faithful to the nuclear accord.

He then referred to the current tense situation in the region following the downing of an American spy drone by Iran in the Persian Gulf and said all sides should work hard to preserve the regional stability and security.

Macron called for all sides’ efforts to prevent from further tensions in the region and said most of the US administration’s regional policies are adopted to meet some domestic needs.

He warned against further tensions in the region and said the tensions will have no achievements for any sides in the region.

Tensions between Iran and the US heightened following an attack on two oil tankers in the Sea of Oman as well as of downing an American spy drones by Iran in the Iranian airspace.