Iran to Reciprocate New US Sanctions

Iran intends to impose restrictions on US individuals and entities backing regional terrorist groups, in retaliation for fresh US sanctions against more than two dozen Iranian nationals and entities over a recent missile test-launch.

"New sanctions imposed by the US government are inconsistent with US legal commitments and contradicts the spirit and text of UN Security Council Resolution 2231," Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, IRNA reported. 

Resolution 2231 was adopted on July 20, 2015, to ratify the landmark Iran nuclear deal clinched days earlier with major powers.

"In response to the new US move, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take reciprocal measures to impose restrictions on US individuals and companies having had a role in creating and supporting the regional terrorist and extremist groups and in the massacre of and crackdown on the defenseless people of the region," the Foreign Ministry said.

It said the names of the banned US people and entities would be announced later.

The nuclear agreement went into force in January last year to terminate the previous UN resolutions, remove EU sanctions and cease the application of US non-nuclear sanctions.

Iran has conducted several successful missile tests since then, but the latest launch last week was the first after new hawkish US President Donald Trump, who has signaled a tough line on the Islamic Republic, was inaugurated last month.

New US sanctions targeting 13 Iranian individuals and 12 entities were announced in a White House statement earlier on Friday, days after it put Tehran "on notice" over the ballistic missile test and other activities. 

The Trump administration said the sanctions were just "initial steps" and it would no longer turn a "blind eye" to what it said were Iran's hostile actions.

Iran said in its statement that its missile program is purely conventional and only developed to serve defensive purposes. It also asserted the Islamic Republic's inalienable right to reinforce its missile program, noting that no country or international body can have a say in this regard.

Resolution 2231 "calls upon" Iran "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology" for up to eight years.

Iran recently banned American wrestlers from entering the country in response to Washington's "offensive" move to temporarily deny Iranians entry to the US.