UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2020) The United States cannot impose either negotiations or war on Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during his speech at the 75th UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
"The United States can impose neither negotiations, nor war on us," Rouhani said. "Life is hard under sanctions, however, harder is life without independence."
On Monday, US envoy Eliot Abrams said the United States will expand sanctions against Tehran until the country is ready to come back to the negotiating table. Abrams comments came the same day the US unveiled new sanctions targeting Iranian nuclear scientists and states, persons or entities that violate the arms embargo on Iran.
Rouhani stressed that political freedom at home is vital for Iran.
"We as the oldest democracy in the middle East are proud of our people determining their destiny and will not trade domestic freedom with foreign interference," he added.
Washington said that it would enforce the reinstatement of international anti-Iranian sanctions, despite no backing for it at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The international conventional arms embargo is set to expire next month after the UNSC rejected a US proposal to prolong it. Now the US considers it in place indefinitely after it initiated the snapback sanctions mechanism of the Iranian nuclear agreement. Other key council members, including Russia and European nations, rejected the move, claiming that the Americans lost legal rights for it after they left the JCPOA deal with Iran in 2018.
