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Ahmadinejad added that “currently there is no particular problem in the economic sector,” discounting the effects of previous sanctions.

The new U.S. sanctions seek to further squeeze Iran’s crucial oil revenues, most of which are processed by the central bank.

Under the measures, foreign firms will have to choose between doing business with the Islamic republic or the economically mighty United States.

The sanctions, meant to punish Iran for its nuclear program, were contained in a mammoth $662 billion U.S. defense bill. Obama signed them into law despite reservations they would ties his hands on setting foreign policy.

Iranian leaders and military officials have warned that such sanctions could push them to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf.

Twenty percent of the world’s oil passes through the strait, making it the “most important choke point” globally, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Iranian naval forces are currently conducting 10-day war games near the strait.

Iran’s currency, the rial, slipped to a record low Sunday. The state news agency IRNA and an Iranian website tracking the currency said the rial’s street value at money changers’ slid to around 16,000 to the dollar.

That represented a huge difference with the official central bank rate of 11,179 rials to the dollar.

Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Mohammad Nahavandian, rejected the move as “unjustifiable”, saying such sanctions would have reciprocal consequences.

“The Iranian nation and those involved in trade and economic activities will find other alternatives,” Nahavandian was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Iranian officials insist that foreign sanctions have had no impact on the country’s economy.

“The sanctions have raised the cost of trade and economic transactions but it has not managed to change Iran’s political behavior,” Nahavandian said.