He made the remarks Monday in a ceremony held to launch the third phase of Persian Gulf Star Refinery in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan province.

“It is very painful for enemies to see that we are inaugurating three major and great national projects in one province during 24 hours despite sanctions against the Iranian nation which they [enemies] claim to be the harshest of its kind.”

Rouhani was referring to two refinery projects in Bandar Abbas which were inaugurated today and also to the joining of Fateh submarine to Navy’s fleet on Sunday.

“The Americans, Zionists and our enemies began their measures [against Iran] from last January, thinking that till January of this year everything would be over and that the Islamic Republic would not be able to celebrate its 40th anniversary,” he added.

“They said they were implementing the toughest sanctions, but people’s lives and Iran’s development continue,” he said, adding that these projects show that that our nation is moving rapidly towards self-sufficiency and greatness.

“Despite plots and sanctions, we were able to produce high-quality petrol to the amount we needed,” the official website of Iranian presidency quoted him as saying.

“During the war with Iraq, our refineries were bombarded every day but our oil sales never stopped … the entire world was helping Saddam, but we stood firm.”

Stating that, “an economic war is harder than a military war,” he continued, “we are not in normal conditions; but the enemy will definitely be forced to retreat from the economic war waged against us.”

“Trump’s standing alone on Iran,” said Rouhani, adding “chairing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was a historic scandal for him and a great victory for us.”

He also went on to stress that, “the US is showing animosity against people’s wellbeing and lives.”

At the end of his speech, Rouhani, on behalf of the Iranian nation, appreciated the engineers and staff of the oil industry and the IRGC.

The projects are being launched on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

Construction of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery began in 2006 in 730 hectares of land 25 km off the southern city of Bandar Abbas. The feedstock to run the facility is supplied by the condensate produced at South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.

The plant is developed for production of 36 million liters of quality petrol per day. The third phase is to add 12 ml/d to the plant’s production capacity.

Although it was initially decided to develop the facility in three phases, officials including Alireza Sadiqabadi, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), have announced plans to build the fourth phase of the mega project.

Once a project to bolster the production capacity and promote the quality of the items produced at Bandar Abbas Oil Refinery come online, the plant’s petrol quality would drastically improve.

The project entails a gasoil hydrogen unit, a power generator, nitrogen unit, sour water unit, Amine Contactor, light naphtha unit, and 17 storage tanks, which have all become operational.

Once the project comes on stream, petrol production capacity of the refinery would increase by 3 ml/d and 70 percent of its output would meet Euro-4 standards.

Moreover, commissioning the gasoil hydrogen refining unit of the facility would add 15 million liters per day of Euro-4 gasoil to the plant’s daily production capacity, and the petrol quality of the refinery is expected to meet Euro-4 standards by March.

The plant is currently supplying 12 ml/d of petrol and is fed by 350,000 b/d of crude oil and gas condensate and is touted as the third largest oil refinery in Iran.