Crippling US sanctions are suffocating Tehran, embattled Iranian president admits: We are in a war situation

The weight of the US’ “asphyxiation” on Iran’s economy has been suffocating, the country’s president admitted to state media in reports Saturday.President Masoud Pezeshkian confessed that Tehran’s economy has been dealt a massive blow since the US imposed a military blockade six months ago — despite insisting days earlier that the campaign would have no impact on Iran.“Some say sanctions have no effect at all; to those people, I really don’t know what to say,” Pezeshkian told state TV in an interview late Friday, according to the AFP.“We are in a war situation, and we must accept these wartime conditions.”His comments come after the US launched what President Trump termed an “economic D-Day” of crippling sanctions this week against the Iranian regime.Pezeshkian also said that Iran’s exports and imports had shrunk by 25-35% since the US forces initiated a naval blockade of Iranian ports, the outlet said.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 — that provided a 60-day cease-fire — in June, he noted.Pezeshkian suggested raising — and in some cases doubling — the price of petrol to make up for the massive losses.By comparison, US forces have helped nearly 1,500 commercial vessels safely transit the Strait of Hormuz “by providing coordinated protection,” 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.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, meanwhile, called on the Pezeshkian’s government to take control of the situation — after annual inflation rose to 66% last month.“There 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,” according to a written statement attributed to the supreme leader,...