Iran emerges victorious from three-year economic war: Rouhani

“Over these three years, they (the Trump administration) confronted the Iranian nation with all their might and suffered an ignominious defeat,” Rouhani said during a ceremony held via a videoconference in Tehran to inaugurate a number of the Oil Ministry’s development projects, Press TV reported.

He reminded that through its virulent measures, the United States and its allies had sought to prevent the Islamic Republic from celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1979 victory of its Islamic Revolution.

“They wanted to march into Iran, [but] were all overthrown. The entire era of their bullying has come to an end, and they will be thrown into the dustbin of history in a couple of weeks,” Rouhani said, adding, “It was the Iranian nation that stood perseveringly and triumphed. And it was Iran’s enemies that suffered defeat.”

The United States launched the economic war against the Islamic Republic in 2016 after leaving a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and other world powers that is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

It then ignited the warfare by returning the sanctions that the deal had lifted. By ditching the JCPOA and restoring the bans, Washington egregiously violated the deal’s multilateral nature and the fact that the agreement has been ratified by the United Nations Security Council.

The campaign of “economic terrorism,” as Tehran has termed the US’ hostilities, was waged under US President Donald Trump’s much-vaunted policy of “maximum pressure.”

Trump would continually express surety that his campaign would shortly bring Iran back to the negotiation table. Tehran would, in turn, remind him that it was never the party to leave the negotiations, and went on to successfully withstand the campaign until now that Trump’s administration is about to leave the White House.

In the face of the economic onslaught, Rouhani said, Iran’s economy showed itself to be a “great and resistant” economy, adding, “I do not think that any country in the region has such power to withstand three years of continued and direct war and come out victorious.”

Besides managing to land great feats through its cultural performance, Iran has proven an “inexorable” regional and international force due to its geographical location and geopolitical advantages, he noted, saying, “Many came along and sought to destroy Iran, but did not manage.”