Speaking in a live televised show on Sunday, President Rouhani said he did not mean to exaggerate, but believed that what was achieved at the end of the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries was beyond what was initially expected.

Representatives from Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – plus Germany succeeded in finalizing an agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on July 14 after 18 days of intense negotiations and all-nighters that capped around 23 months of talks between Iran and the six other countries.

A win for all & the matter of trust

President Rouhani said that the end results of the negotiations were a win-win. He said the opposite side had said it was pursuing an objective of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran never intended to build atomic bombs, the president said; so, ‘if the other side in the negotiations thinks it has achieved that goal (of preventing an Iranian bomb), let this be a victory for it.’

The Islamic Republic, however, had three goals in the talks, all of which were achieved, President Rouhani said.

The Iranian president said the fact that an interim agreement between Iran and the P5+1 has stood over the past nearly two years could be a sign that the comprehensive agreement reached between the two sides on July 14 could also be assumed as capable of standing.
We cannot say we have 100% trust in the partners to the agreement, but we can devise a mechanism under which no side would face a loss if the other breached the agreement, the president said.

Iranian nobility

He said Iran has never sought weapons of mass destruction.

It did not opt for the manufacturing of such weapons even when it faced an Iraqi war back in the 1980s, the president said.

“Iranian people are noble; even when fighting, they fight nobly, they don’t seek weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

‘Nothing to worry about’

Referring to certain concerns about inspections under the JCPOA, the president said there is no reason to worry at all as what Iran has agreed to under the JCPOA is nothing extraordinary.

“No one in the world would trade its national security… [and] its secrets,” he said, reassuring that Iran’s military capabilities will by no means be depleted.

Responding to a question about those economic impacts of the anti-Iran sanctions that his administration sought to have removed as a result of the agreement, President Rouhani said his cabinet has been successful in containing or countering such economic woes as a high inflation rate and stagflation.

“Sanctions cannot be successful, ever; but they can have impacts,” he said, adding that as a result of the success of the negotiations, the doors of international business opened to Iran.

No country can be found that is not happy about the conclusion of the agreement between Iran and the P5+1, but a handful of warmongers and Zionists, President Rouhani said.

‘Foreign investment welcome, increased imports not’

Answering another question about concerns that potential increased trade activity as a result of the removal of the sanctions against Iran would result in imports of foreign goods to the country, President Rouhani said such concerns are valid.

He said Iran would welcome foreign investment, but not increased imports. The Iranian president said he has directed his economic men about the issue.

Iran should work hard toward employment for the youth, the Iranian president said.

He said, by the end of his administration’s term in office, the inflation rate in the country will be down to a single-digit figure.

‘Averting potential IAEA mischief’

Another question put to the president was about potential acts of mischief by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN agency that has been tasked with carrying out the technical specifications of the JCPOA. President Rouhani said the country should be very vigilant that such mischief does not occur, both in terms of security issues as well as technicalities.

‘No economic boom overnight’

The Iranian president also said that the impacts of the removal of sanctions under the JCPOA will not be felt overnight.

He said the “sapling” that has been planted will take some time to bear fruits, emphasizing, however, that his administration will try to have such impacts come sooner.