US Lying that No Restrictions Put on Food, Drug Import: Iran

Speaking at an event in Tehran, Jahangiri said the Americans are really lying when they say they are not setting limits on Iranian medicine and food.

“We have billions of dollars in various countries like South Korea, Japan and many other countries, but we can’t transfer a dollar of it to buy medicine and food, because the Americans do not allow it.”

He pointed to the Swiss ambassador’s show-off with the small number of medicine packages imported into Iran through a Swiss channel, and said all this propaganda was spread about the channel, while they only allowed two million dollars for cancer medicine to be transferred through it.

“We have imported nearly three billion dollars’ worth of medicine so far this year and those who deny it do not know Iran and its economy.”

He said under the tough sanctions, Iranian officials, especially the private sector and business activists, are now trading with the world and their trade volume in the past ten months exceeded 70 billion dollars.

“The Iranian economy is a big economy, and this big economy cannot be locked up. Today, the United States has put in place almost the most powerful mechanism in the world to follow daily and momentarily whether the sanctions against Iran are working. An oil ship that wants to carry the Iranian oil is chased by the US. If they can identify, they will contact the company warning that it should not carry the oil. These sanctions are the most unprecedented ones.”

Iran’s first VP cited the victory of the Islamic Revolution as one of the greatest events of the time, adding that “The Islamic revolution was the result of the demands of the Iranian nation over the past hundred years who were seeking freedom, independence, progress, and the rule of law.”

Reviewing the notions of the basic slogan of the Islamic Revolution i.e. “Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic”, the First Vice President went on to say that “41 years after the victory of the revolution, we are still going ahead with the same plan.”

He also emphasised that people have the right to self-determination and participation in the affairs of the country.

“Since the beginning of the revolution, it was decided that foreigners must not interfere in deciding the fate of the country. The economy of the country must have been able to stand on its own feet. Iran should be able to put forth its rhetoric and speak out.”

Jahangiri went on to point out the positive side of US government‘s unilateral and anti-human sanctions, saying that the share of oil in the budget has been decreased since last year due to the US pressures.

“Many things have happened in different parts of the country that we can proudly announce. Once, we were waiting for foreign oil companies to come to work and invest in all oil sectors. We used to wait for the country’s first industrial plants to have an Eastern European partner to be set up, but today the country’s industrial capability has expanded,” underscored Jahangiri.

“In these tough times, great things have happened in the quality of manpower and project management. Of course, Iran’s right has been more than that. We decided to industrialise Iran in the 60s and 70s. If it weren’t for the barriers they created for Iran, surely today Iran would be in a better position than many of the countries that claim to be industrialised,” concluded Jahangiri.