The weight of the US\u2019 \u201casphyxiation\u201d on Iran\u2019s economy has been suffocating, the country\u2019s president admitted to state media in reports Saturday. <\/p>\n
President Masoud Pezeshkian confessed that Tehran\u2019s economy has been dealt a massive blow since the US imposed a military blockade six months ago \u2014 despite insisting days earlier that the campaign would have no impact on Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome say sanctions have no effect at all; to those people, I really don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d Pezeshkian told state TV in an interview late Friday, according to the AFP.<\/a><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s President Masoud Pezeshkian admitted the US sanctions were impacting Tehran\u2019s economy. Iranian Presidential Office\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a war situation, and we must accept these wartime conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n His comments come after the US launched what President Trump termed an \u201ceconomic D-Day\u201d of crippling sanctions this week against the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n Pezeshkian also said that Iran\u2019s exports and imports had shrunk by 25-35% since the US forces initiated a naval blockade of Iranian ports, the outlet said.<\/p>\n Tehran has only been able to sell 90 million barrels of oil, its biggest export, during the short-lived memorandum of understanding reached with the US \u2014 that provided a 60-day cease-fire \u2014 in June, he noted.<\/p>\n Pezeshkian suggested raising \u2014 and in some cases doubling \u2014 the price of petrol to make up for the massive losses.<\/p>\n The US has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports for months. via REUTERS<\/p>\n By comparison, US forces have helped nearly 1,500 commercial vessels safely transit the Strait of Hormuz \u201cby providing coordinated protection,\u201d allowing nearly 750 million barrels of crude oil to make it out, according to a Thursday night update from US Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper.<\/p>\n Supreme Leader Ayatollah\u00a0Mojtaba Khamenei, meanwhile, called on the Pezeshkian\u2019s government to take control of the situation \u2014 after annual inflation rose to 66% last month.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the need to seriously address the chain of economic and livelihood challenges, such as inflation, unemployment, management of prices and the market for goods and services,\u201d according to a written statement attributed to the supreme leader, who has not been seen publicly since the February attack that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n The Iranian government on Saturday, however, pledged it would not retreat in its war with the US \u2014 and would focus on curbing inflation, creating jobs and investing in domestic production.<\/p>\n The Trump admiistration unveiled Operation Economic Outcast on Monday. REUTERS<\/p>\n US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled Operation Economic Outcast\u00a0<\/a>on Monday \u2014 an \u201ceconomic asphyxiation\u201d campaign against Iran that Pezeshkian initially claimed \u201cwill not achieve anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will stand firm against economic pressures, as we have done so far and will continue to do,\u201d Pezeshkian told state media Wednesday.<\/p>\n