TEHRAN, June 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iran said Tuesday US sanctions on its
leaders represent the “permanent closure” of diplomacy with Washington, after
President Donald Trump tightened the screws on a nation he has threatened
with “obliteration”.
“Imposing fruitless sanctions against Iran’s supreme leader and the
commander of Iran’s diplomacy is the permanent closure of the path to
diplomacy with Trump’s desperate government,” ministry spokesman Abbas
Mousavi said in a tweet.
Washington imposed new sanctions against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei Monday ahead of blacklisting Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
later this week, its latest salvo in a tense standoff that has raised fears
of a regional conflict.
“Trump’s government is destroying all established international mechanisms
for keeping global peace and security,” he added.
Tehran and Washington broke off diplomatic relations in 1980 over the
hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran following Iran’s Islamic
revolution.
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 — a moderate figure and key architect of the 2015 Iran nuclear
deal — 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.”
A year after Trump unilaterally withdrew from a multilateral pact with Iran
over its nuclear programme, tensions have flared with a series of attacks on
tankers in highly sensitive Gulf waters.
Washington blamed the incidents on Iran, accusations Tehran vehemently
denies.
Tensions rose further last week as Iran shot down a US spy drone last week.
Trump then ordered a retaliatory strike on Iran but said he had called it
off at the last minute.