Even though Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has brazenly stated that Iran will break sanctions imposed by the United States on Tehran, First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said Iranians must be let in on the true damage caused by Washington’s embargo.
"We will proudly break the sanctions," Rouhani said during a meeting of government officials in the Iranian capital.
For his part, Jahangiri stressed that the ban should not be downplayed and called on Iranian institutions to work hard on mitigating the sanctions fallout.
“It is our duty to keep some of the worries to ourselves,” IRNA quoted Jahangiri as saying. “But there shouldn’t be an issue that is hidden from the people. This is the people’s right.”
Two days before sanctions came into force, Jahangiri toned down political developments significantly affecting domestic economy. The government's foreign debt is low in comparison to treasury funds, he said while reassuring the public that the country is “fairly rich.”
Iran’s conservatives were outraged over names blacklisted in the US sanctions-- especially that a host of names and entities listed belonged to key facilitators that once helped Tehran dodge pre-nuclear deal sanctions.
"This list includes almost everyone and every organization that helped Iran to circumvent the previous rounds of sanctions," conservative MP and former member of the Revolutionary Guard Ahmad Amirabadi said in a tweet hinting the possibility of high-level national treason.
Referring to the names on the sanctions list, Amirabadi asked, “Who handed this information to the enemy?” and called on Iranian intelligence to conduct a probe.
Rebuffing claims of the US sanctions targeting Iranians, not the Tehran regime, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Iranian people have suffered most because of government maladministration.
Iran’s theocracy is notorious for squandering national wealth over regional proxy wars, and for corruption that travels deep into its most trusted echelons
"Treasury's imposition of unprecedented financial pressure on Iran should make clear to the Iranian regime that they will face mounting financial isolation and economic stagnation until they fundamentally change their destabilizing behavior," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a statement.
The sanctions cover 50 Iranian banks and subsidiaries, more than 200 persons and vessels in its shipping sector, and target Tehran's national airline, Iran Air, and more than 65 of its aircraft, the statement said.