Iran will not surrender to U.S. pressures – Rouhani

Iran will not surrender to U.S. pressures, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, a day after Washington imposed new sanctions on following its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.

“They think they can make the Iranian nation surrender by putting pressures on Iran, by sanctions and even threats of war.

“The Iranian nation will resist against the U.S. plots,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

Iran also that new sanctions imposed on it by Washington were an attempt to derail efforts to save the 2015 nuclear deal by its remaining signatories following the U.S. withdrawal from the accord.

The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Iran’s central bank governor, three other individuals and an Iraq-based bank, a week after U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal Iran signed with world powers to curb its nuclear program.

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Iran has described the sanctions as illegal and has warned that if talks to rescue the accord fail, it would ramp up its nuclear program to a level more advanced than before.

“With such destructive measures, the American government is trying to influence the will and decision of the remaining signatories of the JCPOA (nuclear agreement),” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

British, French and German foreign ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to see how they can save the nuclear deal without the U. S., but appeared hard-pressed over how their companies could continue doing business with Iran once Washington begins to reimpose sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif said the meeting had been a good start, but he wanted to see guarantees materialize.

European powers on Monday vowed to keep the 2015 nuclear deal alive without the U. S. by trying to keep Iran’s oil and investment flowing, but admitted they would struggle to provide the guarantees Tehran seeks.

The deal between Iran and six world powers lifted most international sanctions in 2016 in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear programme, under strict surveillance by the UN nuclear watchdog.

On May 8, President Donald Trump abandoned the pact he branded “the worst deal ever” and reimposed U.S. sanctions on Iran.