Trump’s Domestic, Foreign Policies Gloomy, Says Velayati

Head of Strategic Research Center at the Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati said on Thursday that domestic and foreign policies of the new US administration are gloomy and leading to more isolation of President Donald Trump.

Speaking to reporters, Velayati made the remarks after his meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Pang Sen.

‘From early stages of the Islamic revolution we are used to the US sanctions imposed against Iran and are quite confident that we can resolve our issues through other means,’ Velayati said.

 He went on to say that with reliance on resistance economy as ‘our main strategy, we can deal with sanctions’, he said.

Referring to the existing cooperation among Iran, China, Russia and most of European countries, Velayati said that expansion of cooperation with these countries ‘can help us resolve issues created for Iran’ due to imposition of unfair economic sanctions.

There is no doubt that such crackdown will make the US isolated ‘while empowering us in dealing with economic sanctions’, he said.

The US and Trump assume that through such sanctions they can withhold their lost influence in the region which is quite wrong, he said.

The US is losing its influence and status among Muslim countries in the region day by day, Velayati said.

If they think their policy will harm strategic friendship between Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, it shows that they are miscalculating the situation, he said.

The US allies are opposed to the US economic policies as well as economic sanctions against Iran and Russia and will confront the US policies which will lead to Iran’s triumph, he said.

The Chinese ambassador submitted a message about current developments in Syria.

The volume of trade exchange between Iran and China increased in the first six months of the current year registering a 31 percent growth as compared to the corresponding period last year, he said.

Tehran and Beijing are to continue cooperation on regional issues such as crisis in Syria and also in west Asia and North Africa, he said.

Chinese special envoy will attend President Rouhani’s swearing-in ceremony on Saturday.

Chinese ambassador, for his part, told reporters that during a meeting with Velayati both sides reviewed issues of mutual interests along with regional and international developments.

Tehran and Beijing have identical stands in dealing with regional developments and after defeat of Daesh forces in Iraq and Syria ‘we are now witnessing new developments in both countries’, he said.

IRNA

R.S