Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday urged Muslim nations to deepen financial and trade cooperation to fight what he described as U.S. economic hegemony, using an Islamic conference in Malaysia as a platform to decry American sanctions against his country.
Rouhani repeated his assertion that the U.S. has used economic sanctions as the "main tools of domineering hegemony and bullying" of other nations.
Iran has been gripped by violent protests since last month amid anger over a sharp hike in gasoline prices following U.S. sanctions after Washington withdrew last year from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. There has been a wave of arrests in Iran and rights group Amnesty International has said at least 304 people were killed in the anti-government protests.