Iran condemns new US sanctions

By Muhammet Kursun

TEHRAN (AA) - Iran condemned Saturday new U.S. sanctions on manufacturing and construction companies as well as Iranian officials.

“Unfortunately, the Americans involved in a type of unilateral, illegal, inconclusive and repetitive behavior and are insisting on it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a written statement.

Recent sanctions neglected all international norms, including UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed Tehran’s nuclear deal with the U.S. and world powers, said Mousavi, who pointing out sanctions would affect every lives of millions of Iranians.

U.S. President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on owners and operators of Iranian construction, textiles, manufacturing and mining sectors, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters Friday in Washington.

Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also announced new sanctions on eight Iranian officials who they said were directly involved in Iran’s ballistic missile strikes Wednesday on Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops.

Targeted sanctions officials would include the secretary of the Supreme National Council and the commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary forces and others close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Pompeo, without naming the individuals.

The sanctions came in a week that has seen long-term foes Iran and the U.S. draw ever-closer to a direct military confrontation than at any time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution saw Iranians jettison their U.S.-aligned Shah.

On Wednesday, Iran fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. military bases in Iraq in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike at a Baghdad airport that killed revered Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.