Rouhani says US lost 'golden opportunity’ for bilateral dialogue
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the United States has lost a golden opportunity for dialogue with Tehran.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has declared that his US counterpart, Donald Trump, has ruined all potential opportunities for a dialogue between Tehran and Washington.
Speaking at a press conference on Feb. 6, Rouhani stated in response to a question about the recent protests across Iran, “You shouldn’t consider the demands of the people [as limited to] issues to do with the economy. Political, social and foreign policy issues were [also the subject of] protests. We should open our ears to listen to the people’s remarks, and [we should] see what the people want.”
Mentioning the US reaction to the protests, Rouhani added, “The United States turned the issue of the recent protests in Iran into a political, international and security issue. However, the first awful defeat of the US government in the UN Security Council happened in relation to this matter, [when] all of the present countries in the Security Council spoke of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] and its advantages instead of [pursuing] the goals of the United States to portray the protests as a political and security [matter].”
He then took a swipe at the White House, saying sarcastically, “It was maybe the first time that we saw that the [US] president gave ‘kebab’ [lunch to Security Council member envoys] to gain the countries’ votes at the Security Council. We had seen previously in [Iran’s] presidential election that a number [of candidates] gave kebab [to people] to get their votes, but this was the first time that we saw such a thing [happening] in the White House.”
