Country’s Progress Not Tied to Talks on Sanctions Removal

President Ebrahim Raisi said his administration does not tie the country’s progress to the ongoing talks aimed at the removal of US sanctions against Tehran.
He made the remarks during a televised interview on Tuesday on the occasion of the second anniversary of his election as president.
“What is more important is [for us] to enhance the country to such level of strength that would make it immune to sanctions,” he asserted, according to his official website.
The negotiations have been seeking to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement reached between Iran and world countries in 2015. The accord envisaged limited sanction relief for the Islamic Republic, which, in turn, volunteered to curb some aspects of its peaceful nuclear work.
The US, however, left the agreement in 2018 under former president Donald Trump, returning all the sanctions that the deal had lifted.
The talks have stalled amid Washington’s refusal to offer guarantees that it would not ditch the deal again.

Foreign Policy

Raisi also turned to the issue of Iran’s foreign policy during his tenure.
Under his presidency, Iran has been pursuing “balanced and consistent” relations with the entire world, he said, insisting that the Islamic Republic should not limit its foreign relations to a certain number of countries to the exclusion of others.
The same foreign policy attitude prompted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to agree to Iran’s request for membership in the transcontinental alliance, which is expected to accept the Islamic Republic as a full member in its upcoming summit, the Iranian president noted.
“We will cooperate with whatever country that could pursue having relations [with us that are] based on mutual respect. And if [there are some] rare countries such as the United States that should seek to be adversarial toward us, we will resort to resistance against them.”

Neighborly Ties

Raisi noted that, since the beginning of his tenure, Iran has been extending a friendly hand to all the countries, which are similarly friendly toward the Islamic Republic and are aligned with it.
He cited the instance of Iran’s recent rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, noting that despite all the differences between the countries, the Islamic Republic never perceived the kingdom as its actual enemy.
Turning to the issue of last year’s unrest in the country, Raisi said he believed in Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s perspective of the unrest.
According to the Leader, the enemy instigated the riots because it was uneasy with the country’s progress and the hopefulness of the people, the president said.
“The enemy had sought to stop the country’s progress through hybrid war, but the people chose not to allow this progress to stop,” Raisi said.
“The enemies had thought they could damage the country through the riots, [but they were] oblivious to the fact that the Islamic Iran is no longer [just a] sapling, but [has turned into] a robust tree that is impervious to these impacts.”