TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday hailed Iran’s success in launching a satellite into space as a great achievement, saying trivial shortcomings will be addressed within months.

On Tuesday, Iran launched a satellite, dubbed Payam, into space. The satellite, however, failed to reach the orbit in the final stage.

“We’ve had good achievements in launching the satellite, but trivial shortcomings also existed,” Rouhani said, addressing a joint conference of the cabinet ministers and provincial governors in Tehran.

He said the nation should know that Iran has succeeded to enter the space, which is very important for the country’s agriculture, environment, intelligence gathering and preserving the forests and pastures.

He also pointed to the U.S. maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian nation, saying Iran, with all its power, will resist the pressure which has targeted its revenues, transportation and banking relations.

Calling on his ministers and provincial governors to make every effort to counter U.S. sanctions, Rouhani said, “The Americans are concerned about the Iranian nation’s capabilities and are seeking to impose maximum pressure [on Iran], but these pressures will be fruitless.”

The Americans are seeking to cut off Iran’s ties with other countries on different pretexts, he said. “However, we must expand these relations through different ways.”

The president also pointed to the efforts made to resolve Iran’s banking issues, saying, “With regard to banking transactions, we are in a better place compared to two months ago, but we still need to take more measures.” 

MH/