The president called "illusions and miscalculations" the main cause of Saddam regime's attack on Islamic Iran and stressed that Saddam came with these illusions and miscalculations, he was disgraced and destroyed himself, and every one of his regional allies expressed regret, and today, these illusions are being exactly repeated by the rulers of the White House.
Dr Hassan Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the Trump administration has started a fully-fledged economic war since the year 1397 (2018) with similar illusions and miscalculations, the outcome of which is quite clear.
The president added, "Just as the delusional Saddam had postponed his meeting about his war with Iran until next week in Ahwaz (!), the members of US administration repeated the same thing the Saddam did, saying after tearing down the JCPOA and imposing the economic war that we will enter Tehran next month and they will not see the fortieth anniversary of the revolution; they had such fantasies".
Dr Rouhani said, "But these people, like Saddam, have not achieved any of their goals and have made mistakes in all calculations. The same JCPOA agreement and Resolution 2231 stood against them and they were disgraced in the Security Council".
"It is unprecedented in the history of the United States for a plan to be submitted to the Security Council after months of preparing the ground and to be defeated," the president said, adding, "Indonesia and Niger, Tunisia and 13 other countries in the Security Council bravely stood up to the United States, thus shattering the American hegemony".
Reviewing the bittersweet days of the eight years of Holy Defence, Dr Rouhani referred to the first day of the Ba'athist regime's attack on Iranian cities on September 22, 1980, and said, "The short, yet decisive and calming remarks of the Late Imam Khomeini (RA) on the eve of the Ba'athist regime's attack on our country and the decisive strike of 140 Iranian fighters on September 23, just hours after Saddam's army attacked, showed the world that their imaginations were illusory".
The President stated, "During the eight years of the Holy Defence, the faith, motivation and resistance of the warriors and the presence of the people on the stage were strengthened more and more every day".
The president said that Saddam's main goal in attacking Iran was to overthrow the revolution and the regime, adding, "The Ba'athist regime in Iraq was disgraced and overthrown by the resistance of the Iranian people, and all those who promised to support him expressed regret after a while".
The president said, "Saddam's miscalculations caused problems and troubles for the Iranian nation and also created many problems for his country".
Stating that today we are witnessing a recurrence of events such as Saddam's illusion of invading and defeating Iran, Dr Rouhani said, "The United States started an economic war two and a half years ago based on illusions and miscalculations against our country, and their goal was to block all economic ways on Iran".
The President pointed out, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been facing economic sanctions since 1980, but the economic war against Iran began in 2018, and the United States has been waging this war with all its resources".
Dr Rouhani said, "Like Saddam, the Americans thought that they would enter Tehran a few months after the start of the economic war, and they were under the illusion that a red carpet would be laid for them at Mehrabad Airport and Imam Khomeini Airport, and in this regard, Trump had told European leaders that they should wait only three months, because after three months, with the imposition of economic pressure, the system of the Islamic Republic would no longer exist".
The President pointed out, "The first goal of the Americans, like Saddam, was to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran and at least tear down and destroy the 2231 agreement, but they did not achieve any of their goals".
Dr Rouhani added, "The agreement that was announced two and a half years ago has been annulled. Today, we stand against them and humiliate them in the UN Security Council. It was unprecedented in the history of the United Nations that the Americans, with whose angry look dozens of countries would back down, failed to violate part of Resolution 2231, and no one, not even European countries, agreed with the US plan".
"Today, the grandeur of the United States and the hegemony it thought it had in the world has collapsed," the president said, adding, "The people of Iran has exercised resistance for the past 40 years and achieved a great historical victory in eight years of Holy Defence, both militarily and defensively, and today they have achieved great political, legal and diplomatic success".
Dr Rouhani described the belief and resistance of the people as the reason for the victory of the Iranian nation yesterday and today, and said, "Forty years ago, the Iranian people believed that they were oppressed and their country was invaded and the traitor army attacked Iran without any reason. So, first of all, the war itself became tangible for the people, and in the next stage, they felt that the burden of the war was on everyone".
The President added, "All the people recognised well that this is a war against national interests and honour, so they felt the responsibility of the war and everyone came to the stage".
Referring to the economic war, Dr Rouhani said, "Today, we must all believe that we are in an economic war and the Iranian people should know that economic officials and many private and public non-governmental sectors have been showing self-sacrifice for the past two and a half years".
Emphasising that war is not a joke, the President said, "In war, the Prophet of Islam and Imam Ali (PBUH) may even be wounded and some martyred, and the battlefield may have both victory and defeat".
Dr Rouhani said, "Today, in the first place, we must all believe that we are in a state of war, and secondly, we must believe that the burden of this war is not only on the government and everyone has a responsibility in this area".
"Today, despite the existence of coronavirus, we are witnessing growth in the production of cars, home appliances and in many industrial areas, and this shows the efforts and sacrifices of producers and people," he said.
Dr Rouhani said, "Today, we can and are ready to succeed in the economic war. Of course, we were not the initiators of this war. Just as we stood and won in the eight-year imposed war, we will resist in this war and we will win by the grace of God. I hope that God will lead the Iranian nation to victory in this war, which is a great divine test'.