TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the effects of sanctions and pressure on Iran have reached their peak but they are starting to lose their effectiveness.

“The Iranian people should know that the U.S. pressure against our country has reached its climax and actually it is losing its effect,” Rouhani told a cabinet session.

The Trump administration has used its excessive force to squeeze Iran economically. It has threatened to punish any country or company that buys oil from Iran. It has also slapped sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical and steel industries.

Analysts say the only thing that the United States has not started against Iran so far is military war, although Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said there is no difference between “economic war” and “military war”.

Rouhani said, “Undoubtedly, what the U.S. has done against the Iranian people is a clear example of economic terrorism. This will be recorded in history as what the ‘executioners’ do against the Iranian people. However, the Iranian people have resisted despite all the pressures.”

Referring to remarks made by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Rouhani said other countries have acknowledged the Iranian people’s “greatness” and know that the U.S. is on the “wrong path”.

During his meeting with Rouhani on Monday, Maas said, “Anybody familiar with the history of Iran knows that the strategy of maximum pressure on the Iranian nation will never bear fruit and, for this reason, the European Union is making an all-out effort to maintain the JCPOA [the 2015 nuclear deal].”

Rouhani added that all are aware that it is the U.S. who should be blamed for problems.

Elsewhere, Rouhani said that Iran’s economic situation is improving.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday that the United States is exerting pressure on Iran out of “frustration” and “weakness”.

“The U.S. puts pressure on Iran out of weakness and frustration. However, we will weather this pressure,” he said during a ceremony held at Allameh Helli High School in Tehran. 

He noted, “Today, we are not in the position of weakness. We are in the position of power. The U.S. has made serious mistakes. It [the U.S.] and its regional allies have felt weakness.”

The chief diplomat said that the Iranian people should be proud of their resistance.

NA/PA