Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed US sanctions for rising prices in Iran, saying the measures have disrupted goods imports through the country’s ports. In remarks published Friday, he said shipments that previously arrived by sea must now take longer routes to reach Iran, increasing the cost of finished goods and the cost of living.

Pezeshkian said the increase in prices was therefore natural, according to his remarks. He also said Iran’s income had declined because it could no longer sell oil as it had previously. The president linked the country’s financial pressures both to disrupted trade and to reduced oil-sale revenue.

He further said several industrial factories had been destroyed in bomb attacks, reducing the government’s ability to collect taxes from them at previous levels. Emphasizing the need to keep the country functioning despite these pressures, Pezeshkian said Iran’s economic wheel must continue turning.