Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined that the country’s people will resist against any hardship and sanctions to make enemies regret their deeds. RNA - “This year was a difficult year but our people came to the scene with courage. They did not bow down. They did not beg. We will not beg the enemy,” Rouhani said at the inauguration ceremony of a highway near Tehran on Tuesday.
“Our nation will not beg and surrender. It bears the difficulties to make the enemies regret their deed,” he added.
Rouhani stressed that the Iranian people have survived different tests and natural disasters proudly and by helping each other.
Washington left the historic accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018, defying its multi-party nature and the fact that it has been ratified in the form of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
Last May, Iran began a set of nuclear countermeasures in retaliation for the United States’ departure. The measures were also taken in return for the US’s restoration of its nuclear-related bans against Iran, and failure by Britain, France, and Germany -- three European signatories to the deal -- to retain their business interactions with Iran despite the sanctions.
According to Fars News Agency, as part of the retaliatory steps, Iran stopped recognizing the limits set by the deal on the level of its uranium enrichment activities and the volume of its heavy water reservoir.
On January 5, the country said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium or research and development.
The decision came two days after a set of US drone strikes assassinated senior Iranian commander and the most revered anti-terror military figure in the Middle East, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad.
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