Iran's President Hassan Rouhani
The U.S. will sooner or later rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly, Rouhani described the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 accord as "a mistake".
He said it would ease the way for dialogue if the U.S. administration "stops bullying, keeps its promises, abides by the laws and respects human rights".
Rouhani underlined that he met with 16 world leaders in New York and all of them supported the nuclear agreement.
He said the U.S. has isolated itself by pulling out from the accord but would return to the deal because “nobody benefits from the current situation".
In May, U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from a landmark nuclear deal signed in 2015 between Iran and the P5 1 group of nations -- the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.
He later reinstated U.S. sanctions on Tehran, which had been lifted under the terms of the agreement in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear energy program.
The sanctions are expected to impact Iranian oil exports, which provide Tehran with the revenue needed to finance its national budget.
Laughter during U.S. President Donald Trump's speech to the U.N. General Assembly was a sign of the United States' isolation, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, Fars News reported."You saw and heard their laughter," Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said, according to Fars. "The message of this ridicule was the crumbling of your facade and the increased isolation of America, and this was a big political disgrace."Some delegates at the general assembly on Tuesday laughed and muttered when Trump, in a speech, praised the "extraordinary" achievements of his adminstration.US removing some missile systems from Middle East"You can be sure that the people of Iran and the region are laughing at your completely false and ridiculous claims, but you can't hear their laughter from far away."Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani exchanged taunts at the assembly session, with Trump threatening more sanctions against Tehran and Rouhani suggesting the U.S. president suffered from a "weakness of intellect"."America is the symbol of oppression in the world," Jafari said. "And the oppressed and those in pursuit of freedom are uniting against them."Palestinians decry, Israel commends Trump's UN address'If Trump wants oil price to stop going up, he should stop interfering in Middle East'
Laughter at Trump speech a sign of US isolation: Iran guards chief
Turkey will continue to purchase Iranian natural gas, Reuters reported Wednesday quoting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.In a late Tuesday interview with Reuters in New York on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, Erdoğan said the U.S. threats to punish countries doing business with Iran would not deter Turkey from purchasing Iranian natural gas.“We need to be realistic ... How can I heat my people’s homes if we stop purchasing Iran’s natural gas?,” Reuters quoted Erdoğan as saying.The first round of the U.S. pre-nuclear deal sanctions on Iran, largely targeting the country’s banking sector, came into effect in August.In November, a second phase of U.S. sanctions banning the purchase of Iranian oil and gas is expected to come into effect.The sanctions target Tehran's acquisition of U.S. dollars, precious metals trade, transactions related to Iran's rial currency, activities related to Iran's sovereign debt, and the country's automotive sector.'If Trump wants oil price to stop going up, he should stop interfering in Middle East'Syria crisisRegarding the ongoing Syria crisis, Erdoğan reiterated that “it was impossible for Syrian peace efforts to continue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power.”He added that the withdrawal of “radical groups” already started from a new demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib region.Last week, Turkey and Russia agreed to establish a demilitarized zone in Idlib, Syria’s last opposition stronghold, following a meeting in Sochi between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.Ankara and Moscow also signed a memorandum of understanding calling for the “stabilization” of Idlib's de-escalation zone, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.According to the MoU, opposition groups in Idlib will remain in areas in which they are already present, while Russia and Turkey will conduct joint patrols in the area with a view to preventing renewed fighting.Turkish doctors save Syrian patient's lifePastor Brunson caseAlso speaking on the detention of pastor Andrew Brunson who is under house arrest in Turkey for terrorism charges, Erdoğan said Turkish justice, not politicians, will decide the fate of American pastor.“This is a judiciary matter. Brunson has been detained on terrorism charges ... On Oct. 12, there will be another hearing and we don’t know what the court will decide and politicians will have no say on the verdict,” he told Reuters.As the Turkish president, Erdoğan has no right to order the release of Brunson, he emphasized, saying: “Our judiciary is independent. Let’s wait and see what the court will decide.”Turkey's Erdoğan says court will decide fate of detained US pastorTurkey and the U.S. experience rocky relations following Washington’s imposition of sanctions over the detention of Brunson.Brunson's charges include spying for the PKK -- listed as a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Turkey -- and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the group behind the defeated coup attempt in Turkey of July 2016.Political tensions between the two countries had sparked worries in markets this month, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to use economic pressure over the American pastor who faces terrorism-related charges in Turkey.
Turkey to continue buying Iranian gas: Erdoğan
Iranians have “no choice but to change their tune,” warned U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ahead of his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "I'm not meeting with them until they change their tune. It will happen. I believe they have no choice. We look forward to having a great relationship with Iran, but it won't happen now," he said. Foes for decades, Washington and Tehran have been increasingly at odds since May, when the Republican U.S. president pulled out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and announced sanctions against the OPEC member.
Trump says Iran ‘has no choice but to change tune’ ahead of UN speech