Iran says they negotiated with 5+1, not US Congress

President Hassan Rouhani says Iran’s negotiating side in the nuclear talks is the 5+1 group of world powers and not the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives.

He made the remarks during an address to an audience of people in Rasht, the capital of the northern province of Gilan, on Wednesday. Rouhani stressed that whatever hardliners in the U.S. and the Senate, as well as the allies of the U.S. in the region say is of no concern to the Iranian nation and administration.

On Iran’s strategy in the nuclear talks, Rouhani said, “Our path [in the nuclear talks] will be the path of moderation, interaction, dialogue, and logic, as well as recognition of the right of the great Iranian nation [to a peaceful nuclear program].”

‘No deal if sanctions not lifted’
The president also said there will be no deal on Iran’s nuclear program unless unfair sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic are lifted.

“The world, the 5+1 group, the U.S. administration, U.S. President [Barack Obama] and Senate should know that there will be no deal if the sanctions are not removed,” he said. “The end of the negotiations [between Iran and the P+1 group] and the time of signing a [final] deal should be [the time of] declaring an end to and the lifting of cruel sanctions on the great Iranian nation.”

He said in the upcoming nuclear talks “sanctions” will be the main focus of the negotiations between the Iranian side and the 5+1 group.

“We want interaction in return for interaction. We want goodwill in return for goodwill,” the Iranian president added. He noted that the agreement between Iran and the 5+1 countries on Tehran’s nuclear program will benefit the entire world.

Iran and the 5+1 group - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany - reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 2. The two sides are expected to start drafting a final inclusive deal, which they seek to sign by the end of June.

According to the joint statement, which is considered the basis for a final nuclear deal, the two sides have devised a mechanism to lift anti-Iran sanctions after the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is reached.

This is while the U.S. has announced the sanctions will be lifted gradually.

‘Bombing on Yemen gets nowhere’
Referring to the Saudi aggression against Yemen, Rouhani reiterated Tehran’s position that “bombing the oppressed won’t get you anywhere.”

“Why are you bombing the oppressed Yemeni people, destroying the infrastructure of a weak country, and killing women and children by the warplanes supplied by the U.S.?” Rouhani asked, Press TV reported.

“Do you want to dominate the region [by] using dollar in the past and bombs in the present?” Rouhani further asked rhetorically.

“We seek establishing stability and security in the whole region,” the president said, adding that the Islamic Republic has aided the countries hit by terrorism and insecurity in the region, so that terrorists cannot succeed.

“The way to stability and security is interacting with countries and respecting the votes of the people in the region,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against Yemen started on March 26, without a UN mandate, in a bid to restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. More than 2,600 people have been killed in the aggression so far.

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