Iran's president says U.S. fails to force Iran to surrender

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Friday that U.S. sanctions and pressures have failed to force the Iranian nation to give in.

"The harshest ever sanctions in the history have been imposed against our nation, economy and oil industry" by the United States, Rouhani said in his New Year message for the Iranians on Friday.

"The Americans sought to increase pressure on Iran through sanctions in an attempt to force the nation to buckle under pressure, but our great nation resisted and created another epic," he said, adding that "we were not defeated; in fact, we stood up against U.S. pressures and resisted."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday said that the United States should be responsible for the "destructive ramifications" of its unilateral sanctions against Iran as the country is fighting the COVID-19 outbreak.

He also urged the world to join a campaign to press the United States to lift the anti-Iran sanctions at this critical juncture.

Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education said on Friday that a total of 19,644 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, of whom 1,433 have died.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)