A provincial official in Iran has said that ignoring the impact of sanctions on the country’s economy is “the wrong approach” and he emphasized that sanctions “have broken the back of the economy.”

The political deputy of Bushehr province governor Majid Khorshidi told a gathering on Tuesday, July 14 that “We used to see this approach from the previous administration [Ahmadinejad] and unfortunately it still continues. But I have to say that sanctions have broken the economy’s back”.

The United States has imposed tough sanctions on Iran since 2018 when it withdrew from a multilateral nuclear agreement, demanding a better deal. Most damaging has been a total ban of crude oil exports by Iran, which constitute the bulk of the government’s income. Oil revenues have declined from $100 billion in 2011 to less than $10 billion in 2019-2020.

Top Iranian officials, including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani have often dismissed the impact of the sanctions on Iran’s economy, vowing to overcome challenges by relying on domestic initiatives.

Khorshidi also directly addressed the deteriorating the financial condition of ordinary people. He reiterated that if sanctions are toughened further and considering the impact of the coronavirus economic impact, the country will face serious difficulties. He added that people’s “livelihood does not fall from the sky”.

Governors in Iran are appointed by the president and are usually his supporters.