He made the remarks on Tuesday while addressing the 66th Session of WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean in Tehran.
“America withdrew from the JCPOA without any excuse and only because of extremists’ pressures from inside the US and from Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime,” said Rouhani, also referring to Saudi and Israeli officials' remarks that they had actually put pressure on US on the case of Iran nuclear deal.
“Withdrawing from an agreement is a disgrace for a country, and this disgrace becomes more notable when the agreement has been endorsed by UN Security Council; so it [US] has violated international laws; and more is added to this disgrace when food and medicine become part of the goods under sanctions,” said Rouhani.
“There is no doubt that the US administration has committed crimes against humanity; this measure is an act of economic terrorism,” he said, highlighting, “But this does not mean that the Iranian nation has been brought to its knees.”
Elsewhere in his remarks Rouhani noted that it is an ‘honor’ for his administration to be called administration of ‘health and environment’.
The President described saving 14 million Iranians from salt storm one of the great achievements of the government, saying, “Restoration of Lake Urmia was the government’s first decision since it took office, and today, we can be sure about the lake’s restoration. If this step was not taken, there would be no city named Tabriz today,” as reported by President Office’s website.
Rouhani said that if it were not for the 11th and 12th governments’ efforts for clean air and the health of the Iranian people, petrochemical petrol would send millions of people to hospitals.
He went on to say that Iranian patients have only to pay up to 10 percent of treatment costs in cities and 5 percent of it in villages after the implementation of Healthcare Reform Plan, adding that this is “unprecedented in Iran’s history”.
“The fact that 10 villages are connected to the national gas network daily and 30 villages are linked to the safe drinking water network each week means that people have access to healthy water, enough food, clean fuel, and relatively clean air, and they trust doctors,” he continued.
“If a nation is in peace, the first important step for health has been taken, and there is this confidence in our nation today,” he said, adding, “Despite all the problems and unfair sanctions imposed by the enemies on the Iranian nation, this summer we had 843,000 net employment, which is an honour for the Islamic Republic”.
Rouhani said that today, more than 95 percent of the country's need for medicines is fulfilled domestically, adding, “Of course, our friends did not forget us. Although they respect the United States in words, they help us in practice.”
“We appreciate our friends who were with us in these difficult times. We are grateful to our committed physicians for their efforts to prevent people's health from being compromised and not letting any queues form for medicine in the country.”
Stating that the 83 million Iranians will not forget the US’ crime, Rouhani said, “The US will be, and is, the loser in the world of politics, ethics and humanity.”
“After 18 months of unprecedented economic pressure, we are seeing a decline in inflation rate and positive economic growth in the country," the president said, adding, “Our stock market has grown 71% and we have 72% growth in the OTC market. The Iranian people did not yield to the US pressure and sanctions and they stood and resisted with courage and vitality.”
“The fact that under the current economic sanctions and pressures 3.5 million pilgrims travel to Iraq and Karbala indicates the physical and spiritual vitality of the Iranian nation.”
"We extend the hand of brotherhood and friendship to all our neighbors," said Rouhani, noting that the friendly relations of neighbors with Iran means that America and the Zionists are defeated.
The President noted, "For the past seven to eight years, our region has faced savage terrorism, and the most vicious terrorists have occupied parts of our region. They killed innocent people in Syria, destroyed Iraq and beheaded people, oppressed the people in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and killed defenseless people in beloved Yemen.”
Rouhani said that war and terrorism are main factors in disrupting society's health, saying, “Ensuring health under bombing is impossible or very difficult. Occupation and military attack on Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan mean that the people in these areas will face many problems and their health will be threatened.”
"We have responded to the Damascus government's request on the first day," he said, stressing that Iran did not forget its neighbors in difficult conditions.
He added, “We rescued the Syrian occupied cities, such as Aleppo and Hama, from the savage terrorists, and came to the help of the Iraqi government and people to confront those who wanted to destroy Iraqi cities to ashes, pushing the terrorists out and constantly providing health care.”
Rouhani emphasized that Iran is with the oppressed Palestinians who are being bombed and oppressed by the Zionist Regime every day, adding, “We are also with the Yemeni people and help the people in providing food and medicine, and this is an honor for us.”
“If we want to see health and life expectancy in the region, and to eradicate disasters that threaten people's health, we must speak out loud and stand in front of those who set fires in the region.”
“Iran is still a sanctuary for the region's patients and our Shiraz, Tabriz, Mashhad and other cities are a place where people from neighboring countries come for treatment and we are proud of this.”
MAH/IRN 83517949/President.ir