Iran president says pressure on country at critical, dangerous stage

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that pressure on his country from the United States had reached a critical and dangerous stage.

Speaking in India ahead of a BRICS summit, Pezeshkian suggested that "the world today is going through a period of unprecedented complexity", adding the use of economic levers of pressure only served to exacerbate that.

"Iran has been subjected to heavy sanctions in recent years; this pressure has reached a critical and dangerous stage in recent months following the military aggression by the United States and Israel," he said.

The US and Israel sparked the Middle East war in late February with strikes on Iran, whose economy had already been weakened by decades of international sanctions.

The Islamic republic retaliated by choking off the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy transit, causing global energy prices to surge.

"When a country is subjected to political and military pressure on its trade, energy, infrastructure and financial system, the repercussions extend beyond its borders," Pezeshkian said.

The Iranian president is on his first official visit to India, and is due to hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Friday, according to Indian diplomatic sources.