“The Americans were expecting that the country’s economy would come to a halt a while after the onset of the sanctions, but today we have managed to run the country with planning and reliance on oil-free economy,” Rouhani said at a high-level economic meeting, as quoted by the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
These measures have allowed the Iranian economy to show its strength and not be beaten by the United States, the president added.
“This is a display of power and a major victory for the Iranian nation in the economic war,” Rouhani was quoted as saying.
The United States has levied ever-toughening sanctions on Iran as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign of so-called maximum pressure, which began once Washington pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2018.
Leading officials in Tehran, such as Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have called on Washington to ease sanctions amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic, although the Trump administration refused to take this course of action.
