“We should either bypass the sanctions or compel the enemy to repent, and the administration is determined to frustrate this plot (sanctions) both through boosting domestic production and other different means like negotiations,” Rouhani said at a weekly cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday.
“But in doing so, the administration will act in line with the establishment’s red lines and will not cross them,” he added.
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of action (JCPOA), and reimposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement.
In response to the move, Tehran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36, but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as the European parties to the deal finds practical ways to shield the mutual trade from the sanctions.
The JCPOA was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- plus Germany in 2015.
A first round of American sanctions took effect in August last year, targeting Iran's access to the US dollar, metals trading, coal, industrial software, and auto sector. A second round was imposed on November 4, targeting Iran's energy sector and financial transactions.