Rouhani says Republican statements laughable - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the U.S. Republican candidates for president who attacked the nuclear deal with Iran in a recent debate could hardly find Iran on a map, in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Sunday.
Speaking through an interpreter, Rouhani said “Sometimes when I would have time, some of it was broadcast live and I would watch it — some of it was quite laughable. It was very strange, the things that they spoke of.”
“Some of them wouldn’t even know where Tehran was in relation to Iran. Some of them didn’t know where Iran was geographically, not distinguishing that one is the capital of the other.”
“So what they spoke of was quite far away from the truth. So the people of Iran were looking at it as a form of entertainment, if you will, and found it laughable.”
Though the U.S. Congress failed to block the deal between Iran and six international powers that trades curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for the elimination of many of the sanctions placed on the nation, some Republican candidates are vowing to tear up the deal if elected president.
In a recent CNN debate Ted Cruz said, “I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal.”
In his interview, Rouhani said that if the United States took such action it would destroy the nation’s credibility abroad, and that Iran would continue to abide by its commitment to the deal.
“Can a government become a signatory to an international agreement and then the subsequent government tear it to shreds? This is something that only the likes of Saddam Hussein would do,” he reportedly said.
“Saddam Hussein, previous to attacking Iran in 1980, did sign an agreement with Iran and then tore it to shreds himself and then attacked Iran.”
“So any government that replaces the current government must keep itself committed to the commitments given by the previous administration; otherwise, that government, that entire country, will lose trust internationally and no longer have the type of needed trust to operate in the international arena,” Rouhani contended.
“So finally, I think most of these are political slogans at best,” he said.
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