TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani has downplayed U.S. officials’ threats against the Islamic Republic, saying, “Their power not as powerful as their tongue is.”

Rouhani made the remarks during a trip to the western province of Kermanshah. He was referring to Washington’s maximum pressure on Iran through boycotting Iran’s oil exports.

“If through their pressure we get less oil money, we will make up for it from other resources,” the president said, adding the U.S. administration’s claim to preventing Iran’s oil export “is baseless talk”.

“We know the region and the power of the great Iranian nation better than them. Our nation’s [capacity for] sacrifice and power is greater than what the Americans can conceive.”

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has initiated what it calls a campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran, pulling out of a multilateral deal with the country and imposing sanctions against it.

With the sanctions, Washington has been seeking, among other goals, to bring Iran’s oil sales down to “zero.” The White House has also imposed so-called secondary sanctions that target other countries doing business with Iran.

The president said Iran would continue to sell its oil nevertheless. “We will be weathering the difficulties, selling our oil, and meeting our needs.”

“We bear no hostility toward anyone but would not stand idly by in the face of conspiracies [either],” the Iranian president said.

SP/PA