TEHRAN - Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on Saturday that the United States’ “maximum pressure” against Iran has become “ineffective”, calling it a “failed policy”.

During a speech at a school in Chabahar, Hatami said the Iranian people will never give in to excessive demands by the arrogant powers.

He added that Iran will pass this difficult time and solve problems with help of people.

U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally quit the nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions in history on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran.

Many analysts and think tanks believe that the maximum pressure policy has failed.

President Hassan Rouhani said in December 2019 that the White House has no way other than putting an end to its policy of “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani also said in December that maximum pressure is a “wrong policy” and the U.S. must stop it.

“There has always been political will to solve issues and there is no dead end… The issue is that policy of maximum pressure is wrong and must be changed. We have not closed the door, however, the United States must come to the understanding that this policy is not right,” he said in a press conference.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in September 2019 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 told CGTN in an interview.

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,” Kerry told CBS News.

NA/PA