Anti-Iran sanctions must be nullified alongside negotiations: Leader

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his cabinet members met with Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran on Wednesday on the occasion of the Government Week.

In remarks at the meeting, the Leader said the main criterion for the nullification of sanctions against Iran is the reduction of inflation in the country.

He stated the anti-Iran sanctions are intended to take people’s livelihood hostage. The Leader also called for attempts to “neutralize” the bans in addition to pursuing negotiations to terminate them, referring to the talks between Tehran and world powers.

Ayatollah Khamenei also expressed his gratitude to the Raisi administration for its foreign policy achievements, including its “neighborliness policy” and efforts to join international organizations.

The neighborliness policy must be pursued vigorously, he stressed.

“We must not be in conflict with any of our neighbors,” he continued, adding, “Every conflict must be turned into cooperation. This is doable and has already been done to some extent.”

Ayatollah Khamenei also described Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the BRICS group of emerging economies as two great achievements within a short span of time.

“Membership in two important international agreements in a short period of time was a great success,” he noted, arguing that the developments demonstrate Iran’s growing clout such that “the founders of these international agreements are willing – and sometimes insist – to include our beloved country among them.”