Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday dismissed as an "illusion" the remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama that Iran is under crippling sanction pressures.

"The U.S. president has said ... he wants to bring the Iranian nation to its knees through sanctions, which reflects a continuation of an illusion in this regard," Khamenei said, quoted by the local satellite Press TV.

"Lingering on this illusion will deal a blow to the United States and will prove their calculation to be a failure," he said.

On Tuesday, Obama said that Iran is "feeling the bite" in a substantial way of the crippling sanctions in place against it and is politically isolated.

The U.S. president called on Iran to come to the negotiation table in a "clear and forthright" way to prove to the international community the peaceful intentions of its nuclear program.