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New US Sanctions Certain to Face Response

New US Sanctions Certain to Face Response
New US Sanctions Certain to Face Response

Iran's top judge reiterated Iran's vow to respond to a new raft of US sanctions targeting him and more than a dozen other individuals and entities over alleged human rights abuses and links to Tehran's missile program.

"Sanctioning the head of a country's judiciary is crossing all international red lines and the US should know that the Islamic Republic will not remain silent on such action," Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani was quoted by ISNA as saying on Monday.

The targeted sanctions were announced on Friday as hawkish US President Donald Trump waived oil and banking sanctions against Iran, suspended under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The US Treasury Department's action hits 14 Iranian officials and companies and businessmen from Iran, China and Malaysia, freezing any assets they have in the US and banning Americans from doing business with them.

  Testimony to Rightness  

Larijani described the imposed sanctions on himself as "an honor" that attests to "the rightness of the path we have been pursuing."

He hailed a statement released earlier by the Foreign Ministry in reaction to the US sanctions move.

"The Foreign Ministry's statement is appreciable as it made clear to the United States that any hostile behavior would meet an appropriate response from Iran."

The ministry's statement said sanctions against Larijani are against international law and vowed retaliation.

"The Trump regime's hostile action [against Larijani] ... crossed all red lines of conduct in the international community and is a breach of international law and will certainly be answered by a serious reaction of the Islamic Republic," the statement said.

Lawmaker Hossein Naqavi Hosseini denounced the new sanctions as an attempt to advance Trump's policy of government change in Iran.    

"The US scenario is meant to undermine our national resolve by fomenting public dissent, creating division between the people and government and instigating sedition and unrest," he told ICANA on Tuesday.  

The US administration's officials have made no secret of their aspirations to topple the Islamic Republic.

Trump openly backed the recent protests in Iran over economic hardships that were put down by the government after reports of sporadic violence that claimed the lives of 25 demonstrators and security forces.

Trump signing the sanctions waiver, as required by US law every 120 and 180 days, left the troubled nuclear accord in place for the time being.

But he said it will be his last reprieve to the international pact if the European allies of the US and congress fail to agree to additional, stricter restrictions on Iran before the next sanctions waiving deadline comes up in mid-May.

Trump said he would work with congress to amend legislation governing US participation in the agreement to accommodate his demand for those fresh curbs, which he outlined in four categories.

They include immediate access to all Iranian sites by international nuclear inspectors and removing the timetable set out in the deal for the lifting of limits on Iran's uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities.

Trump's conditions are believed to be all but impossible to meet without putting the US in violation of the deal.

 

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