TEHRAN – Iran has discovered a new oil field in the country’s south withover 50 billion barrels of crude oil, its president said on Sunday, a findthat could boost the country’s proven reserves by a third as it strugglesto sell energy abroad over United States sanctions.

The announcement by Hassan Rouhani comes as Iran faces crushing Americansanctions after the US pulled out of its nuclear deal with world powerslast year.

Rouhani made the announcement on Sunday in a speech in the desert city ofYazd.

He said the field was located in Iran’s southern Khuzestan province, hometo its crucial oil industry.

Some 53 billion barrels would be added to Iran’s proven reserves of some150 billion, he said.

“I am telling the White House that in the days when you sanctioned the saleof Iranian oil, the country’s workers and engineers were able to discover53 billion barrels of oil,” Rouhani said, according to the semi-official*Fars* news agency.