An internal Israeli Foreign Ministry document maintains that the additional sanctions imposed on Iran in recent months have caused far more damage to the Iranian economy than previous believed and have sparked additional domestic criticism of the regime, Haaretz reported Thursday, September 27. A Foreign Ministry official who is intimately involved in the Iranian issue noted: “There are indications that the average citizen is actually blaming Iranian leadership for the situation and not the West, which has imposed the sanctions.” The Israeli official cited a number of examples reflecting the tough economic conditions in Iran, most notably a 50 percent decline in the volume of Iranian oil exports resulting from sanctions by the European Union and other countries. As a result, the country’s oil revenues have declined by $40 billion since the beginning of the year.