On Friday, Trump extended waivers of key economic sanctions on Iran for another 120 days but said he was doing so “for the last time.” Trump also ordered the imposition of new sanctions on 14 individuals and entities over alleged rights abuses, censorship, and support for weapons proliferators.
In reaction to the move, the Iranian foreign ministry issued the following statement on Saturday:
In the Name of God,
On Friday, January 12, 2018, the president of the United States, in spite of his one-year efforts to terminate the nuclear deal, was once again forced to extend the binding sanctions relief for Iran called for under the JCPOA. The solidity of the deal and the international support for this agreement have made it tough for Donald Trump, the Zionist regime, and the sinister alliance of belligerent extremists to nullify the agreement or make changes to it.
However, the US president continues to take hostile actions against the Iranian people based on his past-year approach and repeats the threats that he has failed to carry out many times. While Trump is forced to carry out the binding measures included in the JCPOA, he is continuing his past year’s approach, and in order to show his hostility towards the great Iranian nation, he has put some Iranian and non-Iranian individuals on the sanctions list out of desperation under illegal, worn-out, and ridiculous pretexts so as to make up for at least part of his failures.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, while condemning US threats and the addition of new people to the sanctions list, underlines the following points:
- The Islamic Republic of Iran, together with other parties to the JCPOA and the international community, has repeatedly emphasized that the nuclear deal is a credible international document and cannot be renegotiated in any way.
- The Islamic Republic of Iran explicitly stresses that it will not carry out anything beyond its obligations in the JCPOA, and will not accept any changes in this agreement now or in the future. Moreover, it will not allow that the nuclear accord would be linked to any other matter.
- The US government, like other parties to the deal, is obliged to fulfil all its obligations, and if it fails to comply with its obligations under false pretexts, it should be fully held accountable for the consequences.
- Over the course of two years after the signing of the deal, the US government has always been violating various parts of the agreement by breaking its pledges and through procrastination and hostile policies. Trump’s past-year policy and Friday’s announcement violates the deal’s paragraphs 26, 28, and 29, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will follow up this blatant violation and report it to the JCPOA Joint Commission.
- The decision of the US regime to add a number of Iranian and non-Iranian nationals to its self-created and illegitimate sanctions list is merely a proof of the continuation of US administration’s hostility towards the great nation of Iran.
- The hostile and illegal move by the Trump regime in placing the name of Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani in the so-called new US sanctions list shows that Washington has crossed all the red lines of conduct in the international community. It is a violation of international law and a breach of bilateral and international obligations of the United States, which will surely face the strong reaction of the Islamic Republic, and the US will be responsible for all the consequences of this hostile move.
- Referring to the lofty concept of human rights to boycott Iranian authorities and citizens by a regime, whose most important allies are the worst violators of human rights and humanitarian law in the contemporary history, is a disgrace to civilized nations and a shame for modern rule, especially when they are imposed by a person obsessed with racist and anti-foreigner mentality whose recent indecent racist remarks against various nations has stirred hatred in the international community and among the American people; a person who has sold billions of dollars in weapons to massacre innocent people in the Middle East and considers provocation of violence and chaos as his honour.
- Over the past decades, the US has always had the world’s worst record in suppressing liberal nations and supporting repressive regimes, including unconditional support for the oppressive regime of Shah and the coup against the democratically-elected government of the Iranian people. It is also supporting the occupying, aggressive and repressive regimes, such as the Zionist regime and its regional allies, from the occupied Palestinian territories to Bahrain and Yemen. On the one hand, Washington sheds crocodile tears and claims to be advocating the human rights of the Iranian people using empty slogans and false allegations and, on the other hand, by imposing cruel sanctions, banning the entry of Iranian citizens into that country and other insulting behaviours, calls the civilized Iranian nation “terrorists”.
- Imposing illegal sanctions and the hostile statements and moves of the US government against the Iranian authorities and the Iranian nation, which are rooted in the despotic and hegemonic nature of American rulers, have always been considered a failed and discredited policy for public opinion and the vigilant people of Iran and the world. Such actions are due to the country’s frustration with the vigilance of the Iranian nation in confrontation with the interventionist measures designed to create turmoil and crisis in the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past decades, and especially during the recent events.
- The United States must learn that all the three powerful branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Establishment, which enjoy the support of the great nation of Iran, unanimously do not pay attention to these kinds of double standards and hostile policies against their country, and will respond appropriately to such hostile US actions in due time.