“The Americans stopped the entry of medicine and food to our country through illegal and inhumane sanctions as well as terrorist operations. We have never seen people with such level of barbarism at the White House. They committed the worst atrocities,” Rouhani said at a meeting of the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus in Tehran.

He saved special criticism for US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“A gentleman who presents himself as the minister of foreign affairs but who is (in reality) the minister of crimes,” Rouhani said.

He also censured the US administration for blocking Iran’s efforts to receive a $5b loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Americans have inflicted tens of millions of dollars of damage on Iran” the president said.

Rouhani told the domestic critics of the government that they must not give a “wrong address” to Iranian people about the shortages of medicine and emergency supplies in the country.

“The correct address for all the crimes and pressure on the dear people of Iran is the White House in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “And those who are inside that building have committed all these crimes against the Iranian people, and you can see that there is pressure and problems on a daily basis.”

“Our people stood firm and resisted, did not knit their brows and did not bow to these bullies,” Rouhani said.

Stressing that the Iranian people should direct their anger at the White House, the president said, “I have no doubt that the US government will one day surrender and kneel before the Iranians and that the Iranian nation will be victorious.”

Rouhani also said Washington is angry with the Iranian government’s appropriate management of the coronavirus outbreak despite draconian sanctions imposed on the country.

Iran, the hardest-hit country by the new coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East, has been almost on its own fighting the disease as sanctions have seriously hampered its access to drugs and vital medical equipment needed to contain the virus.

Tehran has repeatedly said it does not seek Washington’s help in the fight, but wants the White House to lift the illegal economic sanctions so that Iran could mobilize its own resources to tackle the pandemic.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal struck by his predecessor and began reimposing sanctions that had been eased under the accord.

Washington imposed new sanctions on Monday on Iran’s Defense Ministry and others involved in its nuclear and missile programs. The UN Security Council rejected the US bid to reinstate all UN sanctions against Tehran.