As Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cautioned against discussing potential discussions with Washington, Iran criticized the United States for imposing new sanctions against its oil industry.
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reportedly condemned the sanctions, which were announced the day before, as “illegitimate and unlawful,” according to an official IRNA news agency.
According to spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, “the new US administration’s decision to put pressure on the Iranian people by preventing Iran from engaging in legitimate trade with its economic partners is illegitimate and unlawful.”
He continued, “Iran holds the United States accountable for the consequences and repercussions of such unilateral and bullying actions.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Supreme Court, later said that negotiating with the US is “not smart, wise, or honorable.”
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, made the suggestion earlier this week that he intends to put more pressure on Iran before reaching a “verified nuclear peace agreement.”
During his previous term in office in 2018, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 pact between Iran and world powers designed to control Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, and reimposed harsh sanctions.
Those measures prompted Tehran to violate the pact’s limitations.
“Negotiating with America is neither smart, wise, or honourable. It will not solve any of our problems. The reason? Experience”! According to Khmeenei, Iran has made concessions in the past, but the US has “tore up” previous agreements, according to a citation from Khmeenei on Friday.
He warned that if the US threatens Iran’s security, Tehran “will threaten]the US’s] security”.
The first new sanctions against Iran to be imposed on it since Trump’s White House visit were the ones announced on Thursday.
The US president has promised to bring Iran’s crude exports to zero, declaring them part of the ambition to halt Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The sanctions target Iranian businesses, ships, and individuals associated with US businesses that have already been issued sanctions. Most of the people and tankers involved in the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil to China each year.
In recent months, diplomatic discussions between Iran, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have aimed to find a way to resume the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) pact, which Trump unilaterally scuppered in 2018.
On Wednesday, a senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Iran is prepared to resolve disputes with the US.
Iran has long opposed international oil-related sanctions and views attempts to evict its exports as “piracy.”
Source: Aljazeera
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