Rouhani urges US to drop 'hostile' policies towards Iran

Iran's re-elected President Hassan Rouhani gestures during a press conference in Tehran, capital of Iran, on May 22, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

TEHRAN - Iran's re-elected President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that United States should drop its "hostile" policies towards the Islamic republic.

In the past, "Iran and the United States have experienced bends and turns in their relations, and the United States has always failed in its polices, including exerting pressures and sanctions" against Iran, Rouhani said in his presser following the Friday landslide victory in the country's presidential election.

"The Americans have also made mistakes in their attack on Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as their stance on Syria and Yemen," he said.

Asked about the possibility of direct talks with the United Sattes over the mutual issues, the Iranian president said that "we are waiting for the US new administration to settle, so that we could have accurate view about the ruling group in Washington."

The United States has no other way but to think of "a win-win approach vis-a-vis Iran, otherwise, they will fail," he said.

On Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry also dismissed the recent anti-Iran claims by the US officials as "hostile and baseless," the ministry's website reported.

"The US president's meddling, repetitive and baseless claims against Iran are aimed at Iranophebia and are in line with the US hostile policies against the Islamic republic, seeking to persuade the regional countries to buy more arms from the United States," Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

The US stance against Iran is "deceptive and destructive" and attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the regional states besides supporting Israel, Qasemi said.

"Unfortunately, some regional states are looking for the support of the superpowers instead of relying on their own nation and the potentials of regional cooperation," he said, adding that such an approach will result in the destruction of the infrastructures of the regional countries, including Syria and Yemen, by the terrorist groups.

The Iranian spokesmen urged the US officials to stop, what he called, "rising tensions, intervention, Iranophebia, and selling weapons to the supporters of terrorism."

Earlier on the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that US President Donald Trump's recent anti-Iran remarks are aimed at "milking" Saudi Arabia, Tasnim news agency reported.

"Iran, fresh from real elections, attacked by @POTUS in that bastion of democracy & moderation. Foreign Policy or simply milking KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) of 480 billion US dollars?" Zarif twitted on Monday, speaking of Saudi Arabia.