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IRAN-US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY
Iran too ‘great’ to be intimidated: Rouhani
TEHRAN, May 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has
pledged the Islamic republic is “too great to be intimidated by anyone” in a
late night meeting with clerics.
“God willing we will pass this difficult period with glory and our heads
held high, and defeat the enemy,” Rouhani said late Monday as he met Sunni
clerics to mark the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, the official government
website dolat.ir said.
He was speaking after four ships, including two Saudi oil tankers, were
reportedly attacked off the UAE coast on Sunday, in a sign of mounting
regional tensions. Iran has called for an investigation into what it called
an “alarming” incident.
Iran and the United States have engaged in a war of words in recent weeks
since Tehran began to roll back commitments set out in a landmark 2015
nuclear deal with world powers.
US President Donald Trump withdraw the United States from the deal last
year and has unilaterally reimposed stringent sanctions on Iran.
Last month, Washington designated Iran’s revolutionary guards as a
“foreign terrorist organisation”, the first time that part of a foreign
government has been branded as such.
The dispatch of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group plus an amphibious
assault ship, a Patriot missile battery and B-52 bombers by the US to the
region has triggered fears of possible military clashes.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1546 hrs