Tasnim � Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US sanctions on the country have failed to prevent the Islamic Republic from making progress.

�The projects that were inaugurated today ... are a proper response to those who sought to bring our country to its knees in 2018 and 2019,� Rouhani said on Thursday while inaugurating five large industrial and mining projects in Isfahan and Khorasan Razavi provinces via video conference.

He added that the US sanctions have failed to affect the country and bend the nation�s will.

�The sanctions have apparently caused problems for us, but what is important is that they cannot halt our progress,� the Iranian president said.

Washington returned its bans in May 2018 after unilaterally and illegally leaving a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and major world powers.

In May 2019, a year after the US� exit, Tehran began reducing its commitments under the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on a stage-by-stage basis in response to Washington�s pullout and the ensuing European failure to make up for America�s absence.