Iran to ‘proudly’ break US sanctions, sell oil: Rouhani

President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, asserted the Islamic republic would “proudly bypass sanctions” imposed by Washington, which came into effect Monday, targeting the country’s oil and financial sectors.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, asserted the Islamic republic would “proudly bypass sanctions” imposed by Washington, which came into effect Monday, targeting the country’s oil and financial sectors.

“I announce that we will proudly bypass your illegal, unjust sanctions because it’s against international regulations,” Rouhani said in a televised speech during a meeting with economists in Tehran, as quoted by AFP.

“We are in a situation of economic war, confronting a bullying power. I don’t think that in the history of America, someone has entered the White House who is so against law and international conventions,” he added.

The renewed US sanctions aim to significantly curb Iran’s oil exports and cut it off from international finance and follow US President Donald Trump’s controversial decision in May to abandon the multi-nation nuclear deal with Tehran.

“America wanted to cut to zero Iran’s oil sales ... but we will continue to sell our oil ... to break sanctions,” Iran’s President boasted.

In May, Trump pulled Washington out of the world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed the first round of sanctions on Iran in August.

The 2015 agreement lifted most of the financial and economic sanctions on Iran, and in return, Tehran would curb its nuclear activity under UN surveillance.

Washington has also warned that there will be consequences for countries that violate or fail to abide by the US sanctions on Iran.

Editing by Nadia Riva