TEHRAN – Thanks to people’s unity, pressure and sanction against Iran have failed, First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said on Monday.

“Imposition of pressure and cruel sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran by heads of hegemons have failed through the people’s unity and the efforts of officials,” he said during a ceremony in Birjand, South Khorasan.

He added, “Despite the United States’ economic war against our country, the country is moving fast on the path of development.”

The vice president also expressed hope that the people’s living standards would be improved and the country’s economic situation would become stable.

Jahangiri said on October 1 that Iran has succeeded to defeat the United States’ policy of “maximum pressure”.

“We have defeated the United States’ policy of maximum pressure and they are aware that this plan does not work against Iran,” he said at the time.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the vice president attached great importance to national unity and integrity.

“The Iranians will get out of the troubles caused by the United States and anti-Iran countries. It is just essential to protect unity and integrity inside the country,” he remarked.

In an interview with NPR published on September 22, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran will not succumb to economic pressure by Washington.

“Abandon the illusion that Iran can be defeated by pressure,” he said.

“We are resisting an unprovoked aggression by the United States. I can assure you that the United States will not be able to bring us to our knees through pressure,” he noted.

Zarif also told CGTN in an interview aired on September 22 that Washington’s policy of sanction and pressure against Iran has not worked.

“The United States is running out of options. It is desperate. The policy of maximum pressure has not worked,” he said.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran bankrupt.

“We have been pressuring them. Maximum pressure… we’re seeing the unfolding of really a bankruptcy of approach,” he told CBS News.

Trump quit the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions on Iran as part of “maximum pressure” against the country.

Talking in a press conference in New York in late September, President Hassan Rouhani urged the U.S. to quit policy of maximum pressure and pursue a policy of dialogue and logic.

NA/PA