August 06, 2021
With just five days left in office, President Rohani publicly acknowledged his government at times “did not tell part of the truth” to the people during his eight-year tenure.
According to the official English translation on the president’s own website, Rohani said at his last Cabinet meeting as president August 1, “We told the people the truth. Of course, we did not tell people part of the truth. In my opinion, we could not tell them because I did not find that useful and I was afraid that a very lofty goal that we should all pursue, which is national unity, would be impaired.”
He did not elaborate or give any examples of having shaded the truth. However, in the same speech he acknowledged that Israeli agents had stolen a whole warehouse full of nuclear secrets in 2018. In the 2-1/2 years since then, the Rohani Administration has repeatedly denounced the story of the theft as fictional.
“If we have a defect, we apologize to the people and ask them for forgiveness and mercy,” Rohani said.
Rohani blamed many of Iran’s current problems on President Trump’s decision to drop out of the nuclear agreement and reinstitute sanctions.
He said Iran had plans to upgrade its armed forces after the expiration of the UN arms embargo last October, but couldn’t, due to its financial woes. “We did not have the money to buy due to sanctions and not selling oil, but the contract is completely ready,” he said, without naming who Iran has a contract with.