Iran’s Rouhani remains defiant, calls the US president ‘racist’

With US sanctions coming into effect against Iran, the national mood is one of defiance, with war games and the Iranian president hurling insults at US President Donald Trump, but trouble may be ahead.

Iran has remained defiant in the face of US sanctions.

President Rouhani had harsh words for the US president and claimed that US exemptions to sanctions on oil issued to eight nations were a victory for Iran.

Iran also scheduled one of their largest military exercises of the year on the same day as US sanctions kicked back in.

Nevertheless, trouble is on the horizon, as the European Union has yet to come up with a promised bypass to the US banking system and the oil waivers issued by the US are only intended to be temporary.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi reports from Tehran.