ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran’s former oil minister on Wednesday described US President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding his recent resignation as “false claims,” saying the comments were made as a result of being "hit so hard" by the Iranian military.

Iran’s “oil minister just quit. He said 'We have no economy, we have no oil, we have nothing,'” US President Donald Trump said Tuesday, speaking to reporters. “Iran is doing very poorly. Their economy is gone. They have inflation of almost 300 percent.”

The comments came after President Masoud Pezeshkian approved the resignation of Iranian oil minister Mohsen Paknejad on Sunday and appointed Hamid Bovard as acting minister.

“My resignation has nothing to do with Trump's claims last night,” Paknejad said in a statement on Wednesday.

“They have been hit hard, so it is natural for them to resort to making such false claims,” he said, describing himself as “a soldier of the homeland.”

Paknejad was appointed as a presidential advisor on Tuesday, shortly after his resignation as minister.

Reacting to the developments, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday commented on the appointment of Bovard following Paknejad's resignation, asking rhetorically, "Considering Iran has not loaded a single barrel of crude onto a vessel since August 25th, what is the oil minister managing?"

Iran closed the Strait after US-Israeli strikes killed the top brass of Iran’s leadership, catapulting the region into a conflict that persists today. In response to Iranian restrictons on the Strait of Hormuz, the US imposed a blocakde of Iranian ports and levied additional sanctions in a bid to prevent Iran's oil export pathways.

Tehran and Washington have each insisted that they control oil exports through the vital waterway, seeking to deny the other access.

“Although I was sanctioned by the number one enemy of the Iranian people just a few months after taking office as the Minister of Oil, by the grace of God, the process of producing and exporting Iranian oil continued, thanks to the efforts of the zealous employees of the oil industry, even under conditions of sanctions and blockade,” Paknejad added.

In May 2025, Washington imposed sanctions on Paknejad, with Tehran slamming the move as another sign of “US hostility.”