Iran’s Rouhani says despite US pressure, foreign debt, unemployment rate declined

Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani said his country’s foreign debt has fallen by 25 per cent to $9.5 billion down from $12.4 billion reported more than two years earlier.

Iran’s Fars news agency quoted Rouhani during a public event in the northeastern city of Shirvan, sayint that the 25 per cent drop in foreign debt “indicates that, despite US pressure, we did not ask for outside help, we depended on ourselves, reduced expenses and paid back part of the debt”.

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The Iranian president added that the unemployment rate has also fallen from 12.1 per cent in the previous year to 10.8 per cent this year.

Rouhani said the US has failed in all its attempts to harm Iran, adding “for 14 months, the world’s largest economic and military force has imposed the harshest sanctions against the Iranian people. If these sanctions were imposed on any other people, they would have collapsed, but the Iranian people fought back during the past period with all their strength”.