Iran urges solidarity to counter U.S. pressures

Senior Iranian officials called for solidarity among Iranians to overcome the U.S. economic pressures and urged the European states for measure to secure Iran's oil sales and banking transactions.

President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday urged unity among the nation to overcome the problems have recently emerged in the country due to the pressures by the United States.

"Today, we experience one of the arduous and difficult days due to the enemies and foreigners' plots," Rouhani said in the mausoleum of the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, in the south of capital Tehran.

"We should all help each other. It would be an unforgivable sin if the government is left alone" in the face of difficulties, he said with reference to the existing and impending U.S. sanction pressures on the country's economy.

Iranians have been able to abort anti-Iran attempts of the Zionist lobbyists in the U.S. assemblies, Rouhani said, adding that the Iranian nation also nullified the plots by Washington and aborted its charges against the Islamic republic in the United Nations.

"With no doubt, we will also be able to tackle the problems thanks to our solidarity and unity," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Rouhani vowed to follow the path and "ideals" of Khomeini to resist the pressures and serve the nation.

In the meantime, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday that Tehran is still waiting for Europe's guarantees on the sale of Iranian oil and banking relations, Press TV reported.

"The European Union was supposed to carry out some measures, including the preservation of the sale of Iranian oil and the preservation of banking channels, which we are still waiting (for Europe) to do," Zarif was quoted as saying.

Zarif made the remarks on the sidelines of a conference on Iran's political development after U.S. unilateral move to pull out of a 2015 historic nuclear agreement.

Iran's has incessantly urged the European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal to take "practical and tangible measures" to protect Iranian interests after the U.S. pullout.

Iran signed the landmark nuclear deal with the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany in July 2015 to halt its nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.

U.S. President Donald Trump decided on May 8 to quit the Iranian nuclear deal and vowed to reimpose sanctions, including oil embargo, on Tehran.

Iran is currently in talks with France, Britain and Germany to revive the "blocking statute," a 1996 regulation that prohibits European Union companies and courts from complying with foreign sanctions laws.

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to reimpose sanctions targeted financial transactions that involve U.S. dollars, Iran's automotive sector, the purchase of commercial planes and metals including gold.

The second batch of U.S. sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector and central bank are to be reimposed in early November. Trump has warned that those who do not wind down their economic ties to Iran would "risk severe consequences."