Stressing the important role of culture and art, especially during the current critical conditions of the country, President said, “The most important need of our current society is hope of future and vitality”.

Speaking on Saturday evening in a cordial meeting with practitioners of the arts and culture, President Hassan Rouhani said, “Since the beginning of the 11^th Government, we have been facing three complicated issues but we solved two of them, and today, we will solve the other one through empathy”.
Referring to sanctions against the country, he said, “The biggest economic problem is affecting those social classes who have a fixed income rate, and the government needs to help supply their needs and increase their salaries”.
“At the beginning of this government, the inflation rate was 40 per cent, but the annual income raise was only 15 per cent, which the government needed to balance the two rates. As the first step, the government increased the raise rate,” he said.
The President continued to refer to nuclear-related sanctions and negotiations in that regard, saying, “In negotiations, art is involved alongside knowledge, because we need to look at the faces, tones and information that we have from the other side and understand what they need from us”.
Interaction with the world requires knowledge, science and art, he said, adding, “We could take the first step within less than 100 days after the government took office, which led to lift of complex sanctions”.
“It was because of this agreement that the exchange rate decreased and a lot of hope was generated in the society, and this was the great job our country’s diplomacy power did,” said Rouhani.
He continued, “We were supposed to reach the final agreement in 2014, for which some hurdles showed up, and except for ups and downs inside the country, the second pressure was put on our country, which was done by Saudi Arabia and its allies, the Zionist Regime, and Americans, to stop the negotiations by decreasing the price of oil”.
The President added, “Social asset is the power than can help us solve problems. We expect all practitioners of the arts and culture to strengthen this social asset through the tool of arts”.
On the nuclear deal, he said, “Because of this deal, great investments began in the country and great projects were opened, among them is Setareh Khalij-e Fars Refinery, because of which we became self-sufficient in petrol production”.
“It was because of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that we opened 15 phases of South Pars Gas Field, which was an unprecedented move in the history of projects in this region,” he continued.
The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran went on to say that we have hard days ahead of us, but we are hopeful of future, adding, “We can resolve all problems with proper planning and empathy”.
“We will never yield to the enemies’ bullying behaviour,” said Rouhani, adding, “We favour negotiation and logic, but the other side’s claim to have been ready to negotiate is empty. We will not have such a negotiation even if the entire world powers stand in lines”.
Dr Rouhani added, “The Iranian nation has logic and are ready to negotiate, and it has the power and capability to do so”.
Today, no country in the world, except for 3 or 4 countries and the Zionist Regime, approves what the United States is saying, he said, adding, “Last year, when America raised an issue in the Security Council, the presidency of which was at the hand of Mr Trump, all 14 members disagreed with him, supporting Iran. This is unprecedented in the history of the United Nations”.