Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stepped up his combative’ rhetoric against the United States. In an address that was broadcast live by Iranian state television, President Rouhani vowed that the Islamic Republic will never surrender to U.S. pressure and underlined that the Ayatollah regime will not abandon its goals even if it is bombed.
With regard to growing domestic criticism against Iran’s leadership about the dire economic situation in the country inhabited by over 81 million, President Rouhani sought to lay the blame on the United States by accusing it of ‘waging an economic war against the people of Iran.’ He said: “Today the enemy has again attacked us. In the past it was through military pressures, military attacks and invasions, and today it is by economic warfare and attacks on people’s lifestyles and the quality of life.”
Rouhani’s attempt to distance himself from responsibility for the deteriorating situation came after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sought to lay the blame for the failure of the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement on President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif – openly condemning them for not following his advice. In his words: “The way the JCPOA (the nuclear deal) was put into action, I didn’t have much faith in it. I said that repeatedly to the officials including the president and foreign minister, and advised them.”
While speaking to a group of Iranian university students in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei sought to reassure the youth by claiming that they will witness the demise of both the Israeli and American civilization; saying: “I can confidently say, and I can prove it in an appropriate time, that the Western civilization is in demise and is really falling apart.”
Following the comments by the Iranian supreme leader, Iran’s top military chief voiced a warning to the West, by stressing that that any enemy “adventurism” would meet a crushing response.