TEHRAN - Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Tuesday that the private sector plays an important role in countering the “economic war” launched against Iran by the Trump administration.

“In the current economic war, the private sector plays the same role that Basij used to play during the eight years of sacred defense,” Shamkhani said during a meeting with representatives from the chamber of commerce and entrepreneurs.

The resistance against the invasion of the Saddam army into the Iranian territory in the 1980s is known as “sacred defense”. 

Shamkhani said at the time that the “senior military strategists in the world were of the opinion that Iran would be defeated” in the war, Basij forces entered the scene and “foiled the hegemonic system’s plots”. 

He noted that the current economic war is “more complicated than the military war” and suggested that the private sector can be of great help in economic policy-making.

The top security official said, “New mechanisms have been adopted to involve the private sector in the country’s policy-making process.”

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Washington’s exit from the nuclear deal on May 8 and ordered restoration of sanctions against Iran. 

The first batch of sanctions was snapped back on Monday, August 6. The second batch will be restored on November 4.

Back in May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington will apply economic and military pressure against Iran and will impose “the strongest sanctions in history” on the Islamic Republic.

NA/PA