THE spokesman for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s administration has slammed Israel’s recent attacks against a number of regional countries, warning Tel Aviv will pay ‘a high price’.
Speaking to reporters during his weekly briefing on Monday, Ali Rabiei said: ‘During the preceding month, the Zionist regime became so outrageous as to take pride in its acts of aggression – though in an untrue and exaggerated manner.’
‘Repeated acts of aggression against Iraq are black stains on track records of this regime and we condemn any aggression against the sovereignty of regional countries. Israel will pay a high price for its actions.’
He noted that the secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement (Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah), during his speech on Sunday, took a very important stance on the Israeli regime’s recent acts.
‘These remarks send a clear and severe message to the Zionist regime that its brazen acts of aggression will not go unanswered,’ Rabiei pointed out.
In a televised speech broadcast live from the southern Lebanese capital city of Beirut, Nasrallah said Hezbollah fighters will counter any further violation of Lebanese airspace by unmanned Israeli aerial vehicles, warning the Tel Aviv regime to immediately cease such breaches.
‘Hezbollah will endeavour to down all Israeli drones, which violate Lebanon’s airspace,’ he warned.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rabiei emphasised that the Tel Aviv regime should not take advantage of regional nations’ patience saying: ‘Israel’s repeated acts of aggression against Iraq and Syria have been added to its black record of aggression against the Palestinian people.’
Stressing that regional nations’ patience is running out, the Iranian government spokesman said that the Islamic Republic would support the Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese peoples’ right to self-defence.
Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilisation Units, (commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi) said on Monday that Israel was behind the recent deadly drone attack that killed two people near the Syrian border.
Two unmanned aircraft carried out air raids on an area about 15km (nine miles) inside from Iraq’s border with Syria on Sunday.
‘As part of a string of Zionist attacks on Iraq, the evil Israeli crows have returned to target the Hashd al-Sha’abi, this time with two drones inside Iraqi territory,’ the group said in a statement.
The air raids are the latest in a series of attacks that have targeted Hashd al-Sha’abi positions across Iraq over the past months.
The attacks began on July 19 when a drone dropped explosives onto a PMU base near the town of Amerli, in Salahuddin Province, killing at least one resistance fighter and injuring four others.
The fourth attack came last week, when a PMU ammunition depot exploded near the capital Baghdad. Hashd al-Sha’abi commanders blamed Israel and blasted the Americans for letting the attacks go ahead despite having full control over Iraqi airspace.
- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran’s advancement is the only feasible way ahead for the country amid enemy pressure.
Under the current economic strain, which has resulted from the United States’ restoring sanctions against the Islamic Republic, there no solution other than to try and improve production, cooperation, and integrity within the country, the president noted on Monday.
‘The government does not stint on any effort to resolve existing problems. I believe all implements should be deployed towards the country’s development and advancement,’ he stated, addressing an event held to outline his administration’s contribution to rural development.
‘The overriding principle here is the country’s national interest’ Rouhani asserted.
The US reimposed the sanctions after leaving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement with Iran and five others countries – the US, UK, France, Russia China, plus Germany –. which was agreed in 2015.
Both Washington’s withdrawal from the deal and its reintroduction of the sanctions came despite the deal having being approved through a United Nations Security Council resolution.
US President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA in May 2018, saying he would pursue a campaign of maximum economic pressure against Iran to force a new deal that would address the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile programme and curb its regional influence.
Rouhani noted that Tehran uses its military, cultural, and economic power in tandem with its political, diplomatic, and negotiating power as it proceeds towards its goals.
He cited Iran’s decision in May to begin suspending some of its commitments under the nuclear deal as a reciprocation for Washington’s illegal actions and also to prompt the deal’s other parties – the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany – to guarantee Tehran’s trade interests under the accord.
Rouhani said the Iranian nation’s demand is to preserve the country’s esteem and independence and holdfast as ‘exisisting adversities soften.
‘We stage resistance and steadfastness so we can achieve our goals and security … Steadfastness bears value only when it results in satisfaction of our interests,’ he stated.
- Meanwhile, Trump has lashed out at China, demanding American companies pull out of the country following Beijing’s announcement of retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion worth of US goods starting 1st September.
During the third day of the G7 summit in the French town of Biarritz, President Trump said that American companies should leave China if the United States doesn’t make a deal with China, adding that they could stay only if the two sides came to an agreement.
Earlier in the day, he noted that trade talks with Beijing were in a much better position than at any time, and said that anything is possible when asked if he could postpone envisaged tariffs on Chinese products.
‘I can say we are having very meaningful talks, much more meaningful I would say than any time frankly. For the most part it is because we are doing very well. China is a great country …
‘They are losing millions and millions of jobs which are going to other countries. If I were them I would want to make a deal.
‘I think we are probably in a much better place now than at any time in the negotiation. I don’t think we could have gotten here without going through this process. I think we are in a stronger position to do a deal. A fair deal for everyone’.
Trump also claimed that Chinese officials had reached out to their US trade counterparts and proposed to return to the negotiating table.
China’s Vice Premier Liu He stressed on Monday that Beijing sought to resolve the dispute through ‘calm’talks, and vehemently opposed the escalation.
‘They want calm, and that’s a great thing, frankly. And one of the reasons that he’s a great leader, President Xi, and one of the reasons that China’s a great country is they understand how life works.
‘China called last night our top trade people and said “Let’s get back to the table”, so we’ll be getting back’, Trump said, welcoming the offer. Later, Trump tweeted:
‘Great respect for the fact that President Xi & his Representatives want “calm resolution”. So impressed that they are willing to come out & state the facts so accurately. This is why he is a great leader & representing a great country. Talks are continuing! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)’
On Sunday, the US president stated that he did not want to declare a national emergency over China, even though he had ‘the right’ to do so.
Trump previously told reporters that he had ‘the absolute right’ to order American companies to withdraw from China by invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a piece of legislation which authorises him to regulate transactions following a declaration of national emergency in response to ‘any unusual or extraordinary threat to the United States.’
