TEHRAN - Major General Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, says the Iranian nation is seriously determined to “leave behind” the sanctions by focusing on domestic capacities.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump imposed the harshest sanctions on Iran under his “maximum pressure” policy to strangulate the Iranian economy.

Analysts and politicians all around the world believe that sanctions pressure against Iran has ended in failure though they have put economic pressure on ordinary people.

“We believe the sanctions are the greatest opportunity for Iran,” Salami remarked.

“Today, the sanctions create an opportunity to motivate the Iranian people to meet their needs,” he added. 

Criticizing dependence on other countries, the top general said, “We cannot depend on any country, and Iran differs from other countries because the world imposed the sanction on us.” 

Also, speaking during a ceremony in the northwestern Province of Ardabil on Thursday, Salami said, “The most amazing progress that the country has made so far has taken place under sanctions,” according to Mehr news agency.  

Reminding the achievements made during Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s through reliance on internal resources, the general said, “Whenever there has been sanctions, there has been more progress in Iran.”

The IRGC chief went on to say that the enemies will not change course and will not lift the sanctions through negotiations and called on the government to mobilize all its energy to tackle the problems.

“The sanctions will be neutralized through relying on internal resources, and the enemy will not change its foreign policy towards Iran even when a new administration comes to power,” the general said in an open reference to the new Biden administration which has replaced the Trump administration in the United States.
 
The top commander added, “The enemies' pressures will remain unchanged, calling for intensifying efforts to solve the problems by looking inside the country for solutions.”
 
“By looking for solutions inside the country, the dependency on the outside world will end.”

He also said Iran is the “most independent country” in the world.

In remarks in December, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave the officials a set of advices that if implemented, would make Iran immune to foreign pressure.
The first advice is that Iran should become strong in all areas, including in the defense, science, and technology sectors, the Leader noted.

“Because as long as we are not strong the enemies will continue to commit aggressions against [us],” the Leader pointed out.

The second advice is that officials must not trust the enemies, he insisted.

“My definite advice is that do not trust the enemy. Do not trust the promises of the enemy to resolve the people’s problems.”

Ayatollah Khamenei called on officials to refrain from pinning hope on the lifting of sanctions and, instead, work to “nullify” the sanctions.

“Lifting sanctions is in the enemy's hands. Nullifying them is in ours. We should work more on nullifying than removing them. I don't say we shouldn't pursue removing sanctions.

But sanctions that were supposed to be lifted according to the JCPOA, 4 years ago, have intensified,” he noted.

In November, the Leader also said, “There are two ways to tackle sanctions: 1) removing sanctions 2) nullifying and overcoming them. We tried the first option, removing sanctions, by negotiating for a few years, but to no use. The second option may have difficulties in the beginning but will have a favorable end.” Ayatollah Khamenei said, “If succeed, through hard work and innovation, in overcoming the sanctions and the other side witnesses how sanctions were nullified, it will abandon sanctions gradually.”

EE/PA