Iranian president rejects US ‘threats, arrogance’

TEHRAN

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Friday his country would "not accept" threatening rhetoric by the U.S. administration.

Rouhani made the remarks on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which saw the overthrow of Iran’s pro-western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Noting of people participating in anniversary festivities in Tehran, Rouhani declared that world leaders should adopt a language of "respect" rather than one of "threats and arrogance".

He went on to assert that the 1979 revolution had "liberated Iran from its dependence on foreigners and America" and had allowed the Iranian people to determine their own destiny.

He added that Iran would continue developing its nuclear-energy program, saying the world understood every country’s "natural right" to nuclear power.

Iran, Rouhani noted, had lodged a formal complaint with The Hague-based International Criminal Court over U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent visa ban on seven majority-Muslim countries, including Iran.

Anniversary festivities in capital Tehran were attended by a galaxy of senior Iranian political and military figures, including Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force.