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.

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"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 towards us, we will resort to resistance against them."

Relations with neighbors

Raeisi noted that, since the beginning of his tenure, Iran has been extending a friendly hand to all the countries, which are similarly friendly towards 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.

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Foreign-backed riots

Turning to the issue of last year's foreign-backed riots in the country, Raeisi said he endorsed 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," Raeisi said.

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"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."

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