Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian yesterday said that Tehran urgently needs to improve relations with its neighbors, underscoring that stronger regional ties could help neutralize Western sanctions.

“If we strengthen neighborhood relations, sanctions will become ineffective,” the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) cites Pezeshkian as saying during a meeting with members of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

He mentioned Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran’s southern neighbors as having “significant potential” for cooperation that must be activated to secure shared interests.