US sanctions are economic war, says Hassan Rouhani

Tehran, Iran: Iran's president on Monday described U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran as an economic war being waged on his country and stressed that “economic war is more difficult than military war.”

Hassan Rouhani spoke as he inaugurated the final phase of sprawling Persian Gulf Star refinery built in the Persian Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas. Construction of the refinery began in 2006 and it now has the capacity of 400,000 barrels a day, which amounts to about 20% of Iran's 2.1 million barrels of daily refining capacity.