Iran said Tuesday US sanctions on its leaders represent the “permanent closure” of diplomacy with Washington, after President Donald Trump imposed tightened restrictions on the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei and Foreign Minister Mohamamd Javad Zarif.
“Imposing fruitless sanctions against Iran’s supreme leader and the commander of Iran’s diplomacy (Zarif) is the permanent closure of the path to diplomacy with Trump’s desperate government,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a tweet.
Washington imposed new sanctions against Imam Khamenei Monday ahead of blacklisting Zarif later this week, its latest salvo in a tense standoff with the Islamic Republic.
“Trump’s government is destroying all established international mechanisms for keeping global peace and security,” he added.
US President Donald Trump also imposed new sanctions Monday against top Iranian military chiefs, pressuring the country it has threatened with “obliteration” if a war breaks out.
The US Treasury said it plans to blacklist Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and eight top commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Trump called the punitive measures “a strong and proportionate response to Iran’s increasingly provocative actions.”
Source: Donald Trump
