Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei - who has not been seen publicly since he was injured in the initial February 28 attack that killed his father and former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - called on the government to tackle the economic hardship.
"There is the need to seriously address the chain of economic and livelihood challenges, such as inflation, unemployment, management of prices and the market for goods and services," according to a written statement attributed to Khamenei.
President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media that Iranian exports and imports had slumped nearly 35% because of U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
But he said Iran was able to sell about 90 million barrels of oil during the short-lived memorandum of understanding that the U.S. and Iran signed in June, when Washington permitted Iranian oil sales.
With the U.S. focused on its economic pressure campaign, others have sought to revive diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with Iranian leaders in Tehran on Thursday. He said he had stressed during the meeting the importance of returning to the pre-war status of open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday described the talks with Al Thani as "creative."
In Saturday's statement, Iran said diplomacy and defence were "two complementary, coordinated and inseparable wings" for protecting the country's national interests, security and territorial integrity. It said it would pursue both tracks in a balanced manner.
Qatar, a U.S. ally and Gulf neighbour to Iran, and Pakistan helped broker the June memorandum of understanding that led to a brief ceasefire before disagreements over the vital strait caused it to unravel. Before the war, the waterway carried 20% of the world's oil and LNG.
U.S. military commanders say American forces have cleared sea mines from the strait that had been laid months ago by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz is open, but the Revolutionary Guards' navy said in a statement that such claims "are an obvious lie," reiterating that the waterway remained closed to ships without Iranian permission.
Only seven commodity vessels transited the strait on Thursday, down from 17 a day earlier and below the 10-day average of 15, preliminary shipping data showed on Friday.
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