Ayatollah Khamenei was speaking at a meeting with a group of private sector manufacturers and active economic figures in the Imam Khomeini Complex on Wednesday morning.

The meeting came a day after the Leader paid a visit to the Pioneers of Progress exhibition, which showcased the private sector’s achievements.

“The exhibition I visited yesterday, though displaying a small part of the country's reality, showed that the private sector has managed to reach an acceptable level of progress despite foreign pressures, sanctions, and the threat of further sanctions,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

At the same time, the Leader criticized insufficient work in publicizing the progress, arguing that a major media endeavor is needed to inform the public about such advancements.

Leader urges full use of BRICS to counter dollar dependence

The Leader also called for maximum use of Iran’s membership in international groupings such as BRICS, which the Islamic Republic officially joined over a year ago.

“One of our problems is our dependence on the dollar,” he asserted, expressing hopes that the BRICS financial system and the financial transactions that are to be carried out in the national currencies of its member countries “will greatly help solve this problem.”

Ayatollah Khamenei also maintained that a country that is under sanctions has the duty to tap its own capacities maximally to offset the adverse effects of sanctions.