TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the Iranians can pass problems through unity and solidarity.

“We can pass problems through unity, coordination and better management,” he said during his speech at a meeting of authorities with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Rouhani noted, “What the people and authorities did in the floods incident was extraordinary. Today, we need a unity like that to turn a threat into an opportunity.”

He said that it is not possible to manage the country without making change to structure of budget and economy which cannot be done by just the government.

“This is not just under the authority of the government. Authorities need to converge and the understanding of the parliament and the government about the country, region and world need to be the same,” he said.

He noted that oil income can be replaced by non-oil income.

“The U.S. imagined that they could bring the Iranian great nation to knees with its miscalculations. They set dates for this issue. However, the Iranian people created golden pages in history of the Islamic Revolution of Iran through resistance,” he said.

Pointing to the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, Rouhani said that Iran has given remaining parties to the agreement enough time to fulfil their duties.

He said that Iran has taken the legal path and has stopped implementing two of its obligations for 60 days.

On May 8, Iran officially announced that it stops selling stockpiles of enriched uranium and heavy water for 60 days. However, Iran warned if a conclusion is not reached in this time period, it will take other measures step by step and will accelerate its uranium enrichment activities.

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium is capped at 300kg and heavy water reserve at 130 tons.

“This announcement is for 60 days. We have announced to the other side, the five countries [Germany, France, UK, Russia and China], that if they come to the negotiating table in 60 days and we reach a conclusion and safeguard our main interests which are oil [sale] and banking relations, we will return to the previous situation of May 7, 2019,” President Hassan Rouhani told a cabinet meeting on May 8.

Under the JCPOA, endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, Iran was tasked to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions. However, since President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA, the European countries cut banking ties with Iran, stopped purchasing Iranian oil, annulled agreements, and their companies left Iran one after another.

NA