“(Iran’s) 11th administration took office when the country’s economic growth (rate) was minus 6.8% and today, it has reached 4.4 percent for the first three months of the current year,” Rouhani said in a Sunday speech in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.

In the “hard days” of the region and at a time when the enemies of the Islamic Republic have caused oil prices to drop to one-third to one-fourth of its previous levels, the country’s economic growth of nearly 5 percent signifies the unity between the people and the administration, he said.

Rouhani further hailed the July 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and other world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying that the deal has set the grounds for the country’s economic progress by removing anti-Tehran sanctions.

However, the president said, optimism to the agreement does not mean optimism to the US government.

The remarks come against the backdrop of a new wave of international interest in ties with Iran after Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehran’s nuclear program and started implementing it on January 16.

The comprehensive nuclear deal terminated all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.

Analysts expect significant economic growth for Iran with the complete implementation of the JCPOA.