UNITED NATIONS — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday his country doesn’t want a war with the United States and believes America will “sooner or later” support the Iran nuclear agreement again following the Trump administration’s withdrawal.
Rouhani told a wide-ranging news conference that the U.S. decision to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May was “a mistake” because there are no benefits for the people of the United States, Iran, Europe or any other country.
He said the U.S. made a “second mistake” in holding a meeting of the U.N. Security Council earlier Wednesday during which 14 countries either directly or indirectly backed the nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and five other major powers. Only U.S. President Donald Trump, who chaired the session, spoke against the deal known as the JCPOA and appeared isolated as a result, Rouhani said.
Responding to a question about whether the harsh language the Trump and his top official have used about Iran might lead to war, Rouhani said Iran since the 1979 revolution “has been subjected to that type of language many times.” But he said Trump administration officials “speak with a different style, presumably because they’re new to politics.”
As for war, Rouhani said, “We do not wish to go to war with American forces anywhere in the region. We do not wish to attack them. We do not wish to increase tensions — none of the above.”
“But we ask the United States of America to adhere to laws and respect national sovereignty of nations,” he said.