TEHRAN – The secretary of the Expediency Council has said the United States must be forced to lift the sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The U.S. officials must be forced to lift the sanctions although opportunities have been brought about for the country due to the sanctions imposed on Iran, Mohsen Rezaee said at a meeting on Sunday morning.

Rezaee argued that the issue of the economic sanctions will become of considerable importance in the next decade.

The issue of sanctions, economic governance and way of participation of political actors in solving Iran’s economic problems are the most important issues that the country must overcome in the coming years, he said, Mehr reported.

Razaee, the commander of the IRGC during Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s and some years after the war, also said Iran needs creative and innovative executives to take advantage of the available resources.

Pointing to the West’s cruel sanctions imposed against Iran as well as opportunities brought about for the country due to the sanctions, Rezaee said the economic sanctions have been an illegitimate and illegal act imposed against the Iranian people that must be lifted.

Sanctions showed that the country’s economic system is riddled with problems and the ailing economy must be reconstructed, said Rezaee, who holds PhD in economics. 

He added, “The state-owned economy is inefficient and people themselves must take part in the national economy by accepting responsibility and authority.”

The U.S. government, under Donald Trump, has implemented a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, including the targeting of Iran’s economy with harsh sanctions. The maximum pressure campaign was launched after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.

The United States’ sanctions have severely hampered Iran’s power to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which has so far claimed the lives of over 54,000.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in remarks on December 16 that the officials should 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,” the Leader said.

It was the second time in less than a month that the Leader underlined the need to nullify the U.S. sanctions on Iran rather than removing them. In late November, he said that Iran had tried to remove the sanctions but they were not removed.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that his administration is seriously pursuing the nullification of the sanctions.

“That the Leader told [us] to neutralize the sanctions, we are pursuing this moment by moment. Every time money enters the country and goods are exported, you should know that hours of fights have been behind it,” Rouhani pointed out.

He explained that this is something that has been done for hours and moments since two years ago, when the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear agreement

MH/PA