TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s newly re-elected President Hassan Rouhani on Monday called relations with the United States “a curvy road,” saying he hoped the Trump administration will “settle down” enough for his nation to better understand it.
Rouhani also criticized Saudi Arabia after it just hosted President Donald Trump’s first foreign trip, saying that the kingdom “has never seen a ballot box” while Iran just hosted a successful presidential election in which over 40 million people voted.
“The Americans do not know our region, that’s what the catch is,” Rouhani said. “Those who provide consultations or advice to the Americans, unfortunately, they are the rulers who either push America awry or with money, they just buy some people in America.”
Rouhani decisively won a presidential election on Friday, securing another four-year term. The vote served as a referendum on Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, as well as a vote of confidence that his government will be able to help the country’s sputtering economy. Trump has threatened to try to renegotiate the deal.
Rouhani said that Iranians are “waiting for this government to become stable intellectually” and that “hopefully, things will settle down … so we could pass more accurate judgments.”
