TEHRAN – The Americans have failed to drive Iran’s imports and oil sales to zero, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Monday.

They failed to achieve their goals “because the world’s big countries and our neighbors help us a lot,” ISNA quoted Larijani as saying.

The Majlis speaker also said U.S. President Donald Trump behaves wickedly and is disreputable on the world stage.

“This person who is ruling America has created problems in the region with his unpredictable actions,” he said. “One day he scraps an agreement with a country and another day he behaves differently toward another country.”

On U.S. moves against Iran, the parliament speaker said maybe the term “economic terrorism” can be used for the U.S. president’s actions against the Islamic Republic.

Larijani predicted that the current situation, as created by Trump, would not continue for a long time because other countries would not tolerate the status quo as well.

He also made a reference to the countries that intend to ease the Tehran-Washington tensions, saying, “We welcome any constructive proposal that safeguards [our] national interests, but we will not turn into a puppet of anyone.”

“We will determine which proposals are feasible and which ones are not,” he added.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tehran last month with the aim of reducing tensions between Iran and the United States.

During a meeting with Abe on June 13, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as a person not worthy of exchanging messages. The Leader said Iran has “no trust” in the U.S. and will not at all “repeat the bitter experience” it gained from the negotiations that led to the conclusion of a 2015 nuclear deal, which Washington later ditched.

“Iran engaged in talks with the U.S. and the Europeans for some five or six years, and achieved a result. The Americans, however, breached a done deal,” said the Leader, emphasizing that “no wise man” would enter talks with a country that has reneged on all agreements.

In remarks over the weekend, Abe said he is committed to make effort toward easing the situation in the Middle East and expressed concern over the recent tensions around Iran.

“While collaborating with the international community, I would like to make my efforts for relaxing the tension in the Middle East. That relaxation of tension would be very important for the peace and prosperity of the world. All leaders agreed on that ... It is not so easy, but we would like to play a role,” UrduPoint News quoted him as saying on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka.

MH/PA