New US sanctions mean end of diplomacy: Iran

June 26, 2019 00:00:00

TEHRAN: An Iranian woman walking past a mural painting depicting the late founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (R) and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Tuesday — AFP

TEHRAN, June 25 (AP): Iran on Tuesday slammed the Trump administration over new US sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic's supreme leader and other top officials, with the Foreign Ministry saying the measures spell "permanent closure" of diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.

President Donald Trump enacted the new sanctions on Monday against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his associates. US officials also said they plan sanctions against Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency on Tuesday quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying that Trump's move means the end of diplomacy between the two countries.

"The fruitless sanctions on Iran's leadership and the chief of Iranian diplomacy mean the permanent closure of the road of diplomacy with the frustrated US administration," Mousavi said.

Washington says the measures were taken to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and supporting militant groups. This comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US over Tehran's unraveling nuclear deal with world powers.

Mousavi's statement echoed that of Iran's UN ambassador, Majid Takht Ravanchi, who warned on Monday that the situation in the Persian Gulf is "very dangerous" and said any talks with the US are impossible in the face of escalating sanctions and intimidation.

Meanwhile, the US envoy at the United Nations, Jonathan Cohen, said the Trump administration's aim is to get Tehran back to negotiations.

The sanctions follow Iran's downing last week of a US surveillance drone, worth over $100 million, over the Strait of Hormuz, an attack that sharply escalated the crisis in the Persian Gulf.

After the downing of the drone, Trump pulled back from the brink of retaliatory military strikes but continued his pressure campaign against Iran.

Trump last year re-imposed sanction on Iran after pulling the US out of the nuclear pact that world powers made with Tehran in 2015. Other nations stayed in the deal, which eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbing its nuclear program.