TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei called on the country’s producers to solely rely on their own capabilities to boost the country’s economy and not to wait for U.S. sanctions to end.

Addressing over 2,500 of the country’s producers, entrepreneurs and businessmen on Tuesday, Ayatollah Khamenei urged them not to wait for the removal of the U.S. sanctions to save the country's economy, IRNA reported.

If the Iranian people, economists and intellectuals be able to undermine the sanctions by relying on domestic power, the sanctioning side will stop its efforts because they will be the ones to lose, the leader stressed.

He emphasized the importance of national wealth and improvement of public welfare in the Islamic system, noting that the basic task and strategy is to safeguard the economy against the sanctions through strengthening and improving domestic production.

“I have stand by this strategy and will defend [moving in] the path to the country’s true development,” he said.

Ayatollah Khamenei further noted that the main purpose of the meeting with the producers, entrepreneurs and businessmen was to praise these essential elements in the public eye.

He considered the remarks and opinions of the country’s production sector as very important, measured and significant in the meeting.

He emphasized the significant role of economics in the Islamic belief system, saying that enriching society, increasing national wealth, expanding public welfare and equitable distribution of public resources in Islam is a value and by realizing this view there will be no class gap despite the differences in society.

Referring to the ongoing economic war between world powers, the leader said of course, during the current U.S. presidency, there has been [trade] wars with China, Korea, Europe and many other regions, and it is also extended to Iran in the very inhumane and unjust form of sanctions.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the leader noted that to hope for sanctions to end in the next one or two years is a delusion, adding that sanctions will not go away anytime soon, so one should not wait for such turn of events to change the country’s economic situation.

He criticized dependence on oil revenues for making the country’s economy vulnerable, saying, “This reliance has been slightly reduced due to the sanctions, however since Hashemi Rafsanjani's government, I have emphasized [the need for] gradually reducing the dependence on oil.”

Ayatollah Khamenei further stressed that with the help of country’s producers and entrepreneurs and by deploying the great capacities and capabilities which are only partially used, Iran will turn sanctions from threat into an opportunity.

Boosting domestic production, for long, has been one of the main concerns and priorities of the Leader so that he has named the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21) as the Year of Pickup in Production.

Following the Leader’s policies, the government has also taken significant measures to improve the domestic production in the face of the U.S. sanctions.

According to the Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani, the ministry is implementing 34 executive programs for promoting domestic production across the country.

According to the minister, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), supporting the country’s exporters and creating specialized working groups in order to promote exports to the neighboring countries, reviving the country’s idle production units and small and medium sized mines, supporting domestic auto part manufacturers, holding exhibitions for encouraging domestic production, signing cooperation agreements with knowledge-based companies and universities are among the major steps taken by the industry ministry in order to promote domestic production and boost exports.

EF/MA