Photo credit: Twitter @AljEnglish

When former President George W. Bush spoke of his infamous ‘Axis of Evil’ in his 2003 SOTU speech, which was repeated on national televisions stations as of late with the appointment of Mr John Bolton as National Security Advisor, many were quick to point out that with Iraq invaded and North Korea and South Korea ready to sign a peace deal, the only foe left on that list, was Iran.

Given the recent bombings in Syria by the US, the UK and France, many were eager to see how Iranian President Rouhani would react.

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Today, during a military parade in Tehran marking Army Day, Mr Rouhani came out very defiantly, stating that: "We tell the world that we will produce any weapons that we need, or if necessary we will procure them. We have not been waiting … and will not wait for your remarks or agreement."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Iran has no intention to invade other countries but will continue to produce the defensive weapons it needs, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a parade on the occasion of the country's annual army day <a href="https://t.co/INFOxP2GhA">https://t.co/INFOxP2GhA</a> <a href="https://t.co/n8c4J7QKk8">pic.twitter.com/n8c4J7QKk8</a></p>— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/XHNews/status/986520804140646400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2018</a></blockquote>

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When referring to ‘neighboring countries’ in a remark clearly aimed at Israel, President Rouhani stated: "we do not intend any aggression against you."

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"We want friendly and brotherly relations with our neighbors, and we tell them that our weapons, our equipment, our missiles, our planes, our tanks are not against you, it is for deterrence."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rouhani: We’ll produce any weapons we need, won’t wait for world’s consent <a href="https://t.co/Emu4jkepu7">https://t.co/Emu4jkepu7</a> <a href="https://t.co/lHMG0FqJaf">pic.twitter.com/lHMG0FqJaf</a></p>— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimesofIsrael/status/986505223500775426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2018</a></blockquote>

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"The only way to resolve problems is political negotiation and peaceful behavior."

Furthermore, the Iranian leader stated that his logic behind producing more weapons was that "we are not living in a normal region."

"We see invading powers have built bases around us. Disregarding the principles of international law, they intervene in regional affairs and invade other countries without UN permission."

Source:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/iran-rouhani-wait-approval-produce-weapons-180418074359563.html