Rouhani says US sanctions cost Iran $150 billion of revenue: Report

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed Washington for all the problems that have gripped the country in the past couple of years. According to Bloomberg, Rouhani said that the US sanctions on Iran cost the country about $150 billion in revenue and has hampered the imports of medical and food supplies. Rouhani, in a statement to state television, said that the country's economy has substantially declined ever since the US President Donald Trump announced his withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. 

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Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear deal in 2018 calling the agreement "rotten" and "decaying". As per reports, in the last two years, inflation and unemployment have rapidly risen in the country, while the value of the Iranian rial has dropped at a record pace. “If people want to curse anyone for problems and shortcomings in the country, it’s the White House,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. 

Read: Trump Admin Stops Aid For Pro-democracy Groups In Belarus, Hong Kong And Iran

Iran-US tensions

Tensions between Iran and the United States have been at an all-time high ever since Donald Trump became president in 2016. Tehran and Washington were at loggerheads earlier this year after the US Army killed top Iranian commander General Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike in Baghdad. A couple of days later, the Islamic Republic retaliated by firing rockets on US bases across Iraq. The Trump administration recently reimposed all UN sanctions on Iran after failing to extend the arms embargo on the country in an unsuccessful UNSC vote last month. 

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