TEHRAN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed Friday that the country's path to nuclear success can not be blocked.

    "The world has come to know that the path to the Iranian nation's nuclear success can not be blocked," Khamenei said in a televised address on the occasion of the Iranian New Year Nowruz.

    "Iran's achievements in different scientific and nonscientific fields show that sanctions are ineffective and prove that the great Iranian nation is flourishing and growing from within," Khamenei said.

    The Iranian leader hailed the launching of the country's first home-made satellite and the test run of its first nuclear power plant at Bushehr in the past year as "important achievements."

    Iran has been sanctioned by the United States for developing secretly nuclear weapons and being involved in anti-U.S. activities since the two countries severed ties in 1980.