West has failed to isolate Iran, says president

Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, claimed on Tuesday that the West had been unable to isolate his nation while simultaneously raising the possibility of resuming negotiations to revive a nuclear deal.

West failed to isolate Iran: According to Raisi, “the enemy tried to employ two strategies: one was to isolate Iran from the outside world, and the other was to demoralise the Iranian people.”

“Both of the strategies failed. Iran was not isolated by it, he said at a news conference in Tehran.

Raisi was referring to the sanctions put in place on Iran when the United States reneged on the nuclear agreement in 2018, as well as the unrest that broke out in September 2022 following the murder of a young woman while in custody.

According to the ultraconservative president, Iran is still pursuing “the lifting of sanctions” through talks to resurrect the 2015 nuclear agreement.

He clarified, though, that “we are not tying the country’s economy to the wishes” of Western nations.

With the revelation of a deal for Iran to release five American inmates in exchange for the return of $6 billion in Iranian cash blocked in South Korea, tensions between Tehran and Washington have decreased this month.

However, the delicate pact excludes the prospect of revisiting the nuclear agreement before to the 2024 US presidential election.

Raisi emphasised the country’s diplomatic achievements, including improved relations with Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and an invitation to join the BRICS alliance.

He said that his government was aiming “to reduce the influence of the dollar” on Iran’s economy and that such ties with developing nations “represent a good opportunity to counter American unilateralism”.