President Hassan Rouhani made some fresh comments today as the public battle between the United States and Iran heats up over which country will take the first step in salvaging the nuclear deal.

Participating in a virtual conference via video, Rouhani admitted that the people of Iran have experienced “difficulty, pain and problems” since President Donald Trump exited the nuclear deal in 2018 and reapplied US sanctions. “We did not think that in America a crazy person would be elected and start a historically incomparable war against the nation,” said Rouhani, referring to the crippling economic sanctions as an “economic war.” 

The new US administration has not yet waived these sanctions, calling on Iran to first return to full compliance with the terms of the deal. Rouhani said, “The people of the US and the current administration have understood that [Trump] was in the wrong.” 

Talking about Iran’s resilience in the face of the “maximum pressure” policy of the Trump administration, Rouhani said, “The enemy brought all of its pressure and suspended our sale of oil. We managed the country without oil sales and wrote a budget not tied to oil.”