TEHRAN – Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said Iranian rial has been strengthened by over 40 percent against U.S. dollar in the past eight months, IRNA reported.

In an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt, Abdolnasser Hemmati noted that the country’s foreign currency market is stabilizing and under control.

Asked about the impact of the U.S. sanctions on the country’s oil exports and economy in general, Hemmati noted that Trump certainly hasn’t managed to realize his plans for zeroing Iran’s oil exports.

"Iranian businesses have found ways around U.S. sanctions, trading through channels that skirt Washington's penalties. We have economic stability in Iran and calm in the currency markets. This shows that the Trump administration has been unsuccessful in its economic war against Tehran."

"Our oil exports have actually increased, they are currently rising, and we are using 'unconventional methods' to sell our oil,” he added.

Commenting on the legality of the unilateral U.S. sanctions, Hemmati noted that the United States cannot impose its laws and sanctions on the world. 

“Donald Trump cannot order other countries to do whatever he wants. Trump's sanctions are illegal. We have found ways of bypassing the sanctions," he said.

Commenting on how Iran imports goods which are on America's sanctions list, the governor of the CBI said, "Iran is not a closed country. According to official statistics of the

International Monetary Fund (IMF), we are the eighteenth most powerful economy in the world in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which is a metric for comparing economic productivity and standards of living between various countries."

EF/MA