Raeisi: Iran not tying progress to talks, should become immune to sanctions

Iran’s president has said his administration does not tie the country’s progress to underway talks aimed at the potential removal of United States-led sanctions against Tehran.

Ebrahim Raeisi made the remarks during a televised interview held on Tuesday on the occasion of the second anniversary of his election as the country’s chief executive.

“What is more important is [for us] to enhance the country to such level of strength that would render it immune to sanctions,” he asserted.

The negotiations have been seeking to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement reached between Iran and world countries in 2015. The accord enabled limited sanction relief for the Islamic Republic, which, in turn, volunteered to change 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.

Iran’s foreign policy

Elsewhere in his remarks, Raeisi 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 (SCO) to agree to Iran’s request for membership in the transcontinental alliance, which is expected to accept the Islamic Republic as a full member, the Iranian president noted.