In a post on his Twitter account on Sunday night, Iranian Vice President for Economic Affairs Mohsen Rezaei pointed to Tehran’s carefully calculated efforts to have the sanctions lifted under a balanced foreign policy.
He described Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s fruitful visit to Russia, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s recent trip to China, Iranian diplomats’ “mighty interaction” with the P4+1 countries in Vienna on the revival of the JCPOA, and the expansion of relations with neighbors and Latin American nations as “part of the 13th administration’s major and pragmatic strategy to terminate and nullify the sanctions and pursue a balanced foreign policy.”
In remarks in November 2020, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei called on the Iranian officials to concentrate efforts on thwarting and overcoming the sanctions instead of seeking their removal, pointing to the unsuccessful outcome of years of negotiations for lifting the sanctions.
Last month, Raisi told the Iranian ambassadors and heads of Iranian diplomatic missions abroad that Iran should focus on neutralizing the sanctions and canceling out their impact.
The president stressed that his administration is doing its best to neutralize the sanctions, saying there are serious efforts underway to establish better ties with neighboring countries.