Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, urged his people to wage economic battle and “disappoint” its enemies, as the war with the United States and Israel and years of sanctions take a toll.

The Islamic Republic “has proven to the world in a military battle with the enemies its progress and excellence”, Khamenei said in a written statement, but “it must also disappoint and defeat them in the stage of economic and cultural jihad”.

He went on to call for “prioritising the consumption of domestically manufactured goods”, and said, “the owners of damaged businesses should avoid, as much as possible, layoffs and separation of their workforce”.

Despite a ceasefire in the Middle East war, the US military has blockaded Iran’s ports, disrupting oil shipments, while inflation has risen past 50 per cent in recent weeks, according to the national statistics centre.

The Iranian rial plummeted to a record low against the dollar this week, according to currency trackers, and a labour official said 191,000 people had filed for unemployment after losing their jobs due to the impacts of the war.