Iran: By placing sanctions on Khamenei and Zarif, US 'closes path of diplomacy'

RT
Tue, 25 Jun 2019 07:28 UTC

© azertac/AP

Iran FM Mohammad Javad Zarif • Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

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.

Officials 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.

Comment: Reactions to these latest developments:

From RT:
US National Security Advisor John Bolton:
"As we speak, American diplomatic representatives are surging across the Middle East, seeking a path to peace. In response, Iran's silence has been deafening." Washington "has held the door open for real negotiations," and all Iran needs to do is to "walk through that open door."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani:
The new sanctions are a sign of Washington's "desperation" and "the White House actions show it is mentally retarded." "You [the Americans] call for negotiations. If you are telling the truth, why are you simultaneously seeking to sanction our foreign minister, too?" The promise to enact new sanctions shows that the US is "lying" in the offer of talks with Tehran.

[Russian] senior security official Nikolai Patrushev:
The restrictions "negate all of the repeatedly-sent signals that Washington is open and ready to engage in dialogue."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov:
"You can't have dialogue at gunpoint, literally and figuratively speaking."

From RT:
Foreign minister Zarif:
"You were really worried about 150 people? How many people were killed by nuclear weapons? How many generations did you destroy with these weapons?" Zarif added it was Iran that led the global fight against weapons of mass destruction, "and we will never pursue nuclear weapons according to our religious views."

From RT:
US President Donald Trump:
Arguing that Iran understands only "strength and power," US President Donald Trump threatened to show them just that, tweeting that any Iranian attack on America would be met with "overwhelming force" and "obliteration."

From FRN:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani:
The head of the Iranian government (the posts of president and prime minister in Iran are combined) called the new sanctions "outrageous and idiotic", and the White House and its current owner, according to Rouhani, "suffer from mental retardation." Rouhani said that personal sanctions by the United States against Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei were "useless" because he had no financial assets abroad.

"When you call for negotiations, are you trying to punish the foreign minister? Obviously you are lying. The actions of Americans flout human rights and put pressure on all the people of Iran. Today we feel that disappointment and confusion reign in the White House and the ruling circles of the United States. They thought that our country would fall apart within two to three months, but they saw that we only became stronger. "

Iranian foreign ministry Abbas Mousavi:
"The imposition of useless sanctions on the supreme leader of Iran is the final closure of the path to diplomacy."

According to Trump:
"New harsh sanctions" will deprive Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei and other senior representatives of the Islamic Republic of access to financial instruments.

From Sputnik:
Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi:
"We are not in the business to succumbing to pressure. The US has been applying pressure against Iran, and today, we witnessed that they have added more sanctions. As long as the strategy is there, there is no way that Iran and US can start a dialogue. The US decision today to impose more sanctions against Iran is yet another indication of continued US hostility against the Iranian people and their leaders. The US has no respect for international law and order. In order to de-escalate, the US should take steps [and] put aside their Armada from our region and also move away from the economic war against our people."

See also:
Goad, threaten, backtrack: Trump & Bolton's Iran policy is confusing, dangerous & achieves NOTHING