US sanctions on Khamenei & Zarif ‘close path of diplomacy’ – Iran
The US has destroyed the glimmering chance for negotiations and undermined “world peace and security” by targeting the Iranian leadership with a new wave of sanctions, Tehran has said.
By slapping “useless sanctions” on Iran’s top officials, Washington has precipitated “the permanent closure of the path of diplomacy,” the spokesperson for the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry, Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, said on Tuesday.
Trump’s desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security.
His words were echoed by Iran’s envoy to the UN, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who said“there is no way that Iran and the US can start a dialogue” while Washington is applying economic pressure and sanctions against the country.
On Monday, the US announced plans to blacklist Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. President Trump explained that the new sanctions are a response to Iran shooting down a US drone last week, among other things. He also said that he had considered striking several targets on Iranian soil, but called off the attack.
Also on rt.com Trump announces sanctions targeting Iranian supreme leader in response to shooting down of droneOfficials in Tehran blasted the new batch of restrictions imposed by the US. Zarif said that hardliners in the White House “despise diplomacy and thirst for war.”
The longstanding conflict between Tehran and Washington escalated last year after the US unilaterally abandoned the 2015 deal on the Iranian nuclear program, re-imposing sanctions on Iran. In May, Iran said that it would partially suspend its obligations under the deal, unless the EU, another signatory to the agreement, negotiates the lifting of the US sanctions.
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