AP � Iran�s president has described the U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran as an economic war and stressed that �economic war is more difficult than military war.�

Hassan Rouhani spoke on Monday as he inaugurated the third and final phase of the sprawling Persian Gulf Star refinery built in the Persian Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas.

Construction began in 2006. The refinery has the capacity of 400,000 barrels a day, or about 20 percent of Iran�s 2.1 million barrels of daily refining capacity.

Rouhani praised the inauguration, saying in a televised speech that it comes despite America�s �imposing the harshest sanctions� on Iran.

The Trump administration last year pulled the U.S out of Iran�s nuclear deal with world powers and re-imposed sanction on Iran, targeting its vital oil sector.