Bullying tactics against Iran will go nowhere: Raeisi

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says the United States’ policy of implementing bullying tactics against Iran in the form of imposing sanctions on the country will definitely fail to produce any results.

“Using the bullying language in the form of sanctions and threats against the Iranian nation is not a useful instrument, one should speak with logic,” Raeisi said on Tuesday during a meeting in New York with representatives of US political think tanks.

Elaborating on his remarks, Raeisi said a manifestation of Washington’s insistence on using bullying tactics against Iran was its decision to freeze billions of dollars worth of Iranian funds in South Korea for several years.

The funds were released on Monday as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Iran and the US that was mediated by Qatar.

Raeisi said Iran will continue to judge the US based on its practical steps and not its sheer rhetoric.

“Up to now, US behavior has failed to win the trust of the Islamic Republic,” he said, adding that what can make Iran trust the US is a change in Washington’s bullying behavior as well as its respect for commitments made under international deals.

Raeisi is in New York to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He is planned to deliver a speech to the summit later on Tuesday.

Since arriving in the US on Monday, the Iranian president has attended meetings with media people, religious figures and other groups as part of a campaign to elucidate the policies of the Iranian government.