Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Thursday warned that he was facing domestic opposition to a landmark nuclear deal with major powers that is to go into effect next week.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Thursday warned that he was facing
domestic opposition to a landmark nuclear deal with major powers that is to go
into effect next week.
Rouhani, whose June election has led to a quickening rapprochement with the
West after years of hostility, said there was organized opposition in
Iran
to
his efforts to allay Western concerns about its nuclear program in return for
an easing of sanctions.
"A group does not wish to see the sanctions lifted," the president
said in remarks reported by the Tasnim news agency. "This group--for their
individual and party interests--is against the normalization of relations with
the world."
During a visit to the United Nations General Assembly in
New
York
in September, Rouhani held a historic telephone
call with U.S. President Barack Obama ending decades of estrangement between
the two governments.
On his return, he was greeted by cheering supporters of his efforts to end
U.S.
and
European Union sanctions that have crippled
Iran
's
economy but he was also met with shoe-throwing by hardline protesters.
Rouhani already went on the defensive Wednesday in the run-up to next week's
start of implementation of the November deal under which
Iran
agreed to suspend its enrichment of uranium to levels that have worried the
West and address concerns about its existing stockpiles.
On Thursday, speaking on a tour of southwestern Khuzestan province, a key oil
producing region on the border with Iraq which has a large ethnic Arab
community, Rouhani said his opening to the West was a vital national interest
but that it would take time.
"We want to cut the sanction ropes that have entangled our movement...It
will not happen overnight," he said. "This must be achieved step by
step and is a very difficult task."
Rouhani acknowledged that the interim deal he struck with the P5+1 group of
Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. plus Germany would not spell an
immediate end to sanctions while negotiations on a comprehensive deal continue
over the next six months. "It is correct that the structure of sanctions
remains in place.. but we have taken down one or two of its pillars," he
said.
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