Mubasher: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday blamed the government for economic mismanagement, saying that more improvement to its performance is direly needed.

“More than the sanctions, economic mismanagement is putting pressure on ordinary Iranians [...] I do not call it betrayal but a huge mistake in management,” Iranian state TV quoted Khamenei as saying in his first remark on the re-instated US sanctions.

The Trump administration re-introduced harsh sanctions against Iran, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) third-largest producer,  last week, threatening to punish any companies that continue their operations in Tehran.

“With better management and planning we can resist the sanctions and overcome them,” Khamenei said.

The Iranian supreme leader’s remarks came after the Iranian rial lost nearly half of its value against the US dollar since April on the prospects of renewed US sanctions, driven mainly by booming demand for the greenback among ordinary Iranians.