‘American honesty’ symbol of betrayal

“American honesty is a symbol of betrayal. They showed no sincerity in the negotiations,” Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf said during an event in the Iranian province of Semnan on Sunday.

“They attacked Iran from behind the negotiating table,” he said, referring to the US’s striking several key Iranian nuclear installations in mid-June as a means of boosting an unprovoked war that the Israeli regime had launched on the country.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution says so-called talks with the United States are nothing but dictation under pressure.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the official referred to the US’s and its allies’ triggering activation of the so-called “snapback” mechanism inside a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

On Friday, the countries vetoed a draft resolution submitted by China and Russia seeking a delay in activation of the mechanism that would reinstate the allies’ and the UN Security Council’s nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

“Undermining social cohesion and fueling economic challenges are exactly what the enemy wants,” Qalibaf said.

Iranian officials have invariably noted that the US and those of its allied states that are part of the nuclear deal, namely the UK, France, and Germany, have lost all moral and legal ground to trigger the mechanism due to their own sheer non-commitment to the agreement.

They have cited the US’s unlawful and unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018 and the trio’s refusal to return Washington to the deal, and also suspending their own trade with the Islamic Republic as a few examples.

Qalibafa, however, asserted, “No group or individual, regardless of their perspective or [political] orientation, has the right to damage our domestic unity.”

He praised the Iranians for contributing to the country’s economy by waging a struggle in the face of the economic war that has been imposed on the country. The challenges they face must be examined and resolved, he added.

‘People prepared to endure ‘snapback’ pressure’

According to the official, the Iranian nation was well prepared to endure all the pressures arising from the reinstatement of the sanctions.

“If the snapback is enforced, the people are prepared to endure all the pressures. They will stand firm by the values of the [country’s Islamic] Revolution and will never compromise their dignity.”