NNA - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that U.S. sanctions were depriving his people of basic necessities, vowing his government would find a way to overcome the country's challenges.

"Why are you blocking the people's access to food, water, and medicine?" Pezeshkian said of the sanctions during a visit to the southern Bushehr province.

"They cannot block our path, we will find a way," he added in remarks broadcast on state TV.

US President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House on January 20, has reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy towards Iran over concerns the country is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran has consistently denied it is seeking an atomic bomb.

His administration announced new sanctions earlier this month targeting a network accused of shipping Iranian oil to China after Trump ordered the government to adopt a campaign "to drive Iran's export of oil to zero" and to "modify or rescind sanctions waivers".

Trump has also recently called for striking a deal with Iran, suggesting in a Monday interview that stopping it from developing nuclear weapons could be achieved either "with bombs" or with an agreement.

"I'd love to make a deal with them without bombing them," he told Fox News.

But Pezeshkian brushed off those remarks, saying "they do not want to talk to us, they want us to be humiliated... and we won't be".

"We are able to solve many of our own problems by relying on our own strengths," he added.

Iranian officials have repeatedly echoed that sentiment since the re-imposition of the "maximum pressure" approach, which saw Washington withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal in 2018 during Trump's first term in office.

Tehran continued to adhere to the deal -- known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- until a year after Washington pulled out, but then began rolling back its commitments.

On Friday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters, said there should be no new negotiations with the United States. Trump had earlier called for a "verified nuclear peace agreement" with Iran.

"No problem will be solved by negotiating with America," Khamenei said.

On Wednesday, Khamenei called for developing Iran's military capabilities to "defend the country against evildoers."--AFP

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