TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that “kneeling on neck” is the policy of the United States but the Iranians have “broken the U.S. knee with hammer of unity”.

“During history, when they find an oppressed, they kneel on his neck until he dies. This method does not just belong to a police officer in one city, it is the policy of the United States,” Rouhani said in an open reference to the brutal suffocation of George Floyd, an African-American, by a white policeman who pressed his knee on his neck and he later died. 

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Rouhani said the great Iranian people have broken the U.S. knee. 

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said on June 3 that a police officer put his knee on a black man’s neck and pushed until he died, noting it shows the nature of the United States.

Ayatollah Khamenei said such crimes have frequently happened in the past, and the U.S. has done the same things in many countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and other countries.

Pointing to the slogan of “I cannot breathe,” which the U.S. people have been chanting in recent days, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “This is what the nations that have been the victims of United States’ oppressive usurpation want to say from the bottom of their hearts.”

Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif have described the illegal sanctions on Iran by the U.S. administration as economic terrorism.

Later, Zarif said “U.S. economic terrorism is supplanted by its medical terrorism" as Washington has even blocked financial channels to import medical supplies to the country to control the spread of the coronavirus. 

By announcing a total ban on Iran’s oil export, the Trump administration intended to suffocate the Iranian economy.
  
Rouhani urges Russia, China to counter U.S. plots

Rouhani also said that Iran expects permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, especially friendly countries of Russia and China, to stand against the U.S. plots.

Rouhani noted that arms embargo on Iran will expire in October based on the resolution 2231 which endorses the 2015 nuclear deal, adding the U.S. seeks to hatch plots and draft a resolution and send it to the UN Security Council for approval.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft have said that extending a permanent arms embargo against Iran is now a top priority for Washington.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Trump administration of unleashing a politically motivated campaign against Iran and he called for “universal condemnation” of the U.S. attempt to get the UN Security Council to impose a permanent arms embargo.

‘We will promote our defense power’

Rouhani also said that the U.S. plots will fail and Iran will promote its deterrence power.

“The United States must know that Iran will promote defense power in any condition even if they [the U.S.] bring the case to the Security Council and cause harm to the 2231 resolution,” he said.

NA/PA