In a Tuesday address to the opening ceremony of a steel production project in the central city of Isfahan, Jahangiri underlined that the US is after mounting further pressure and imposing more sanctions on the Islamic Republic, adding Iran has no way but to bravely resist the pressure.
“We have had various deep differences with the US and its western allies on a number of issues over the past decades. One of the main sticking points on which we held talks with them was Iran’s nuclear program. We reached an agreement with the six powers over the issue and fulfilled our pledges under the deal but the US, instead, violated all its commitments and pulled out of the deal,” he was quoted as saying in a report by the government’s official website.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian vice-president said as announced by the US administration, the country’s Department of Treasury has turned into a room for waging economic war on Iran.
The main goal of the US administration is to inflict a serious blow on the Iranian economy and make people’s daily lives more difficult in a bid to sow dissatisfaction with the Islamic Establishment.
“The US is seeking to press ahead with own goals by creating public dissatisfaction in Iran,” he noted.
According to Jahangiri, the strategy which is jointly pursued by the US and its regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, is to exert further pressure on Iran from various directions to achieve their goals.
He warned about the harsh situation that Iran will face in the future and said the states on which the Islamic Republic counted on appeared too weak against the US pressures.
Jahangiri also pointed to the US’ bid to halt Iran’s oil exports, as the country’s main source of revenue, and said, “This is a nonsense claim because to translate it into reality, the US needs to convince other states to accept the pressure without any resistance.”
He called for concerted attempts by all Iranian sectors against the US’ measures and said Iran should do its utmost to export the additional amount of its crude oil.
The Iranian vice-president said the US is also trying to cut Iran’s main industrial exports, which amounts to $45 billion including some major products like steel, copper and petrochemical products.
“Today, Iran’s industrial units should serve as the main players of Iran’s fight against the economic war. They have proved their capabilities over the past decades,” he said.
Jahangiri called on the industrial units to increase their production and exports compared with the previous years and foil the enemies’ plots to inflict a heavy economic blow on the Islamic Republic.
He then elaborated on the US’ future strategy to exert pressure on Iran and said the next step that the White House will take against Iran is to block ways through which Iran can receive the revenue of its exports.
“It will seek to block any channel through which Iran can receive the money of its exports. To this end, it will also mount pressure on the world’s banking system. But we have already found a way out of the upcoming problem. We have held talks with the European states as well as China and Russia to resolve the problem,” he said.
He then referred to the US’ measures to stop Iran’s imports and said Washington has already imposed sanctions on Iran’s shipping and to cope with the US pressure, all sectors of the Islamic Republic should remain steadfast in pressing ahead with their projects.
“In the past, they imposed sanctions on Iran to pressurize it into sitting for talks. We held talks with them over the nuclear issue but they are again imposing sanctions. It means that they are seeking to first destroy Iran and then collapse the Islamic Establishment. Unlike the Zionist regime, the US administration doesn’t say explicitly that it is after the destruction of Iran.”
He said each sanction can turn into an opportunity for Iran, adding Iran can reach self-sufficiency as a main strategy against the outside economic pressure.
“The domestic producers can take advantage of the current situation and sell their products at an appropriate price after promoting their quality.”
He then expressed regret that some people inside the country are after their own profits without caring about the hard fight of the Iranian nation against a big enemy like the US.
Jahangiri said the government will deal seriously with such people.
Iran’s Minister for Industry, Mine and trade Mohammad Shariatmadari then took the podium and said back in 2013, Iran produced 23 million tonnes of raw steel but the figure has already reached 34 million.
