Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi says his administration will not tie the country’s progress to the removal of sanctions, reiterating that neutralization of the impact of sanctions is being resolutely pursued, separate from efforts to remove them through talks in Vienna.

Addressing an event on Wednesday to commemorate 4,000 martyred clerics, Raeisi said the martyrs’ blood carries the message of resistance against the enemies, protecting Islamic values, building the country, resolving people’s problems, forging unity, national cohesion, and adhering to the guidelines set by the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

“Just as we do not deem the enemy’s threats a hindrance, we do not [intend to] put off the country’s progress until the removal of sanctions,” he said.

“We have shown this in practice and announced through official tribunes that our strategy is that of the Leader, but at the same time we are pursuing the removal of sanctions as well.”

Raeisi was referring to negotiations in the Austrian capital to persuade Washington to remove its illegal sanctions on Iran, four years after it unilaterally withdrew from the landmark Iran deal and launched a so-called campaign of maximum pressure against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran has slammed the draconian sanctions as an act of “economic war,” “economic terrorism,” and “medical terrorism,” while at the same time boasting of its prowess to successfully hold the line against the bans.

As a result of illegal sanctions, Iran became the most-sanctioned country in the world, only to be replaced by Russia after Moscow launched a military operation in Ukraine late February.

Raeisi further said that a headquarter for neutralizing sanctions has been established and is actively engaged in efforts to deal with the economic difficulties faced by the Iranian people.

“We are striving so that the conditions would become such that these issues are eliminated, and the people’s lives, livelihoods, and businesses would become such that they can live differently from the past, and the conditions become better and better,” Iran’s president stressed.

He further said the enemy’s strategy is to dishearten the Iranian population while the Islamic Republic’s strategy is to hearten the people.

“Today, anyone who disheartens people with a stroke of their pen or with taking a step – whether intentionally or unintentionally and/or knowingly or unknowingly – is taking the enemy’s path, and if they take a step to hearten people, they are following the Islamic [Republic]’s path,” Raeisi added.