Addressing a press conference on Monday, President Rouhani said that what is certain is that a regime has done this attack with the help of some countries, and the incident is under investigation and "we will finalize the investigation".
In response to the second part of the Al-Jazeera reporter's question on Iran-UAE relations, Rouhani said that there have been some contacts between Iran and the UAE in recent months and some Iranian officials have gone to the UAE and some officials have also traveled to Iran and Tehran-UAE relations has been better in recent months than ever before.
Responding to a CBS television reporter's question about the US presidential campaign and the possibility of negotiating with the new US president, President Rouhani said that "our main problem is not meeting the president or not negotiating. Our problem is that whether in negotiation the issues, problems, interests, and demands of our people are met or it is an artificial one because we are opposed to shallow measures.
It doesn't matter to us who the US president is, of course, Trump's characteristics is that he is talking every day, the president said. Today he asks someone for mediation to speak with us and says tomorrow that I didn't say anything and then sends someone else, and then in his tweet he says I hadn't spoken to him.
Asked by a Russian news agency reporter about the impact of Turkey's attack on Syria on Astana peace process and Iran's measures to prevent the ongoing trend in northern Syria, the president said that "we are facing an incident in northern Syria that is not a pleasant event, not for the region, the Kurdish people and the Syrian government, and not for all of us, but we must strive to maintain Astana process".
Rouhani said that the Astana process has been the best solution so far has taken important steps for Syria, so we must try not to harm it and the three countries that are largely responsible for the process can do their job.
Turkey has some concerns over northern Syria. We accept concern. Any country may have security concerns. We have no problem with Turkey in principle of the goal, he said. Turkey is our friendly government, but the way they are selected is not acceptable for us, there are better ways, and I have made it clear in Ankara and even in a press conference with the Turkish president.
The president noted that the solution to Turkey's security and its concerns about northern Syria is the presence of the Syrian army in their north, and we must all help the Syrian army deploy, but the way Turkey has now chosen is entering the Syrian territory.
Rouhani emphasized that of course, Turkey has always promised us that it respects the territorial integrity of Syria and leaves the Syrian territory. The west of the Euphrates has already been occupied. It has started in the east of the Euphrates and we are concerned about this situation so far. Some were killed and some were displaced. There were many problems.
On the other hand, the hope was that with the arrival of Turkey, the United States would also be withdrawn from Syria, he said. "We hope that the Turkish government will not continue this process based on the intelligence and interests of the region, and we will soon witness the end of this Turkish move and be able to achieve that main goal."
"Our main goal is to fight terrorism and bring the Syrians back to the country and free elections. These must be our main goals and we must pursue them," the president continued.
Country attacking Iranian tanker to face its consequences
Responding to a question from a Russian Sputnik on the attack against the Iranian tanker and shipping security, the president said that "we saw a tanker was attacked on Friday morning in the Red Sea. First, we were told that it was in technical trouble and then it was revealed that it was attacked". Then it turned out that the attack was from outside and some rockets hit our ship. Several rockets were launched, two of which hit our tanker.
He pointed out that the Iranian oil tanker had a camera and the images of the attack were recorded, adding that from these images it is clear that the rockets were fired from where and from what angle. Parts of some of these missiles are in the ship, and "we have seen videos of them".
The head of the Supreme National Security Council said there was evil and wrongdoing in the region and noted that it was not the work of one person or one group. It must have been a terrorist act. A government must have done that. "We are currently investigating." Any country that has done so should expect their consequences.
9455**2050
Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish