"We will not wait for smiles from the United States or Europe"

“We will not wait for smiles from the United States or Europe”

Posted On: August 29, 2023

Tehran, August 29 (EFE).- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Tuesday that Tehran would not wait for a “smile” from the United States and several European countries and convinced that there were other countries and organizations that could work together to avoid the isolation of the West.

“We will not wait for smiles from the United States and some European countries. We will not connect the economy and people’s lives with their smiles,” the president said at a news conference in the Iranian capital.

“There are other organizations, coalitions and agreements with which Iran can work together,” Raisí said, days after developing countries BRIK (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) announced the entry of the Persian nation into the group.

Raisí was referring to the stalled negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement and the country’s inclusion in the BRICS, as announced at the bloc’s XV Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Johannesburg last week.

The conservative politician assured that Tehran had not “abandoned” negotiations to save the 2015 nuclear pact, but that it was the “West” that left the negotiating table, a “strategy” which also “failed”.

The 2015 nuclear pact signed between Iran and Germany, France, Britain, Russia, China and the United States limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and those abandoned in 2018 by the then US president, Donald Trump.

Raisí emphasized that his country “has the JCPOA (English acronym for the agreement) on its agenda, but emphasized that it is not the “only point” in its foreign policy.

In light of this, the president once again accused the “enemy” of causing riots,” referring to the protests that rocked the country due to Iran’s advances.

ISOLATION

Raisí assured that “the enemy has failed in its policy of isolating Iran”, as demonstrated by Iran’s entry into the BRICS bloc on January 1, 2024.

The president also mentioned the country’s entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization last year and relations with African or Latin American countries, where he is to make an official tour in 2023.

“The political and economic situation shows that the enemy has failed in its strategy,” said Raisí, who took office in early August 2021.

As proof, he cited the decline in inflation from 60% to 46% and the country’s economic growth of around 4%.

Me tooHe invited other countries to establish relations with the Islamic Republic.

“To any country that extends its hand of friendship to Iran, we will shake hands warmly,” he said.

“And we will cut off the hands of any country that is hostile to us,” said Raisí.