He made the remarks Tuesday at the open session of the Iranian Parliament while submitting the next year's budget bill.
President said that the United States’ anti-Iranian sanctions are aimed at affecting country’s development and people’s welfare, and that Washington will definitely fail in reaching that target, adding, “1398 budget bill has been drafted considering unjust US sanctions."
Americans fear Iran’s capabilities and undoubtedly they will not achieve their goals, he said, adding that the Iranian nation will stand more vigilantly against their pressures.
“We will overcome problems with Parliament’s help, people’s support, and the Supreme Leader’s guidance,” added Rouhani.
“Last year in December we encountered some problems that made Americans think wrongly and take new stances against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the nuclear deal,” he noted.
He went on to say, “the main goal of the United States by these conspiracies and sanctions and pressures, which are directly aimed at the great Iranian nation, people of the region and economic and commercial companies of the world against all international regulations, is to bring the powerful Islamic Republic of Iran to its knees.”
Stating that the Americans consider the powerful Iran their biggest obstacle in this critical region, he said, “therefore, whenever we have been able to do something great in domestic advancements, they put obstacles on our way because they are afraid of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s capabilities.”
The Americans will fail in reaching their goals and the Iranian nation will foil their plots, he said, adding, “but without a doubt, pressures and sanctions will affect our country’s development and people’s lives.”
“We were able to reduce our negative economic growth to positive figures with each other’s help,” added President.
“What the US was hoping to achieve for year 1397 was two things: first, making the Iranian people hopeless of future of the system and the country, and second, to make people believe that the system is dysfunctional and that the situation is out of control of the government.”
Some spoke of hyperinflation and that Iran would become like Venezuela, said Rouhani, adding, “some friends echo enemies’ words in hard times, which will have dangerous effects on people and the system.”
“The negative effects of our economic system’s old structure is felt more during sanctions,” he continued, saying, “if our economy’s structure was correct, we would have been able to draft the budget bill without relying on oil revenues.”
“If the private sector was more active in the economy, the negative impacts of sanctions would be lesser.
President Rouhani continued, “with the help of the heads of the other two branches, we are more determined to reform the banking system."
Stating that dealers pay the least taxes, he said, “whoever has more income must pay more tax.”
“To counter corruption and rent seeking, we have no way but transparency and finalization of e-government,” said Rouhani, stressing that the positive thing about last year’s budget bill was public criticism.
He also said that the country is being managed in an expensive way, adding, “we are spending 4 times more than the private sector for each student in a year."
“Good foreign relations is what it takes to counter sanctions,” said Rouhani, adding, “the US has been hatching plots against us for four decades, but they are the most isolated country in the world.”
MNA/PR
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