TEHRAN- Es’haq Jahangiri, the first vice-president, said on Tuesday that the private sector has been assisting the government in confronting the U.S. economic war against Iran.

Touching upon measures adopted by the country’s private sector, Jahangiri said, “The country’s private sector has taken giant strides in facing the U.S. economic war against Iran.”

He added, “Despite unfair judgments, the private sector has been carrying out the country’s exports and imports, has been generating job opportunities for the young people and has also been preventing closure of our industrial units.”

He also rejected as futile a claim by Washington that sanctions will decrease Iran’s oil exports to zero, saying, “A number of the Iranian managers and young experts stood up firmly against the U.S. policies via new plans and did not allow the enemy to materialize its plots and objectives.”

“The volume of our trade transactions has exceeded $100 billion regardless of the U.S. pressures on Iran’s economy which proves that the country’s economy is still standing on Iranians’ feet,” the vice president underscored. 

Also, in July, Jahangiri stressed that his country's economy had remained stable more than one year after the U.S. imposed the toughest embargos against Tehran.

"The U.S. imagines that it can zero down our oil sales by exerting pressure on the countries which purchase Iran's oil to push Iran's economy towards a collapse, but fortunately the situation of Iran's economy enjoys an acceptable stability one year after the U.S. oil sanctions," Jahangiri said in a meeting with Head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China Song Tao in Tehran.

He described China as the main economic partner of Iran and oil customer and said, "All high-ranking Iranian officials have put the strategy to develop ties with China on their agenda as a serious mechanism."

MJ/PA