US sanctions cost Iran’s economy $150b, Rouhani says

Dubai: Iran lost $150 billion of revenue since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on its economy, President Hassan Rouhani said.

The US measures are also hampering imports of medical and food supplies, Rouhani said in a statement Saturday on state television.

Iran’s economy has shrunk over the past two years, inflation and unemployment are rising. Crude exports that the nation depends on for most of its foreign exchange are less than 10% of their level before the U.S. withdrew from the multilateral agreement in May 2018.

“If people want to curse anyone for problems and shortcomings in the country, it’s the White House,” Rouhani said.

Relations between the U.S. and Iran have been at their worst since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and over the past two years defined by a security crisis triggered by Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear accord and culminating in the assassination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in January.