ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iranian government on Wednesday slammed the US for imposing a new round of sanctions, saying the move was a “clear sign of hostility” against the Islamic Republic after Washington blacklisted more than 30 people and vessels linked to Tehran’s oil trade.
The sanctions are a "clear sign of the hostility of American policymakers towards the welfare, development, and happiness of the great people of Iran", said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
The US slapped the sanctions on Monday, targeting Hamid Bovard, head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) oil, and others accused of brokering oil sales and evading Western sanctions.
The Washington measures are a "wrongful, unjustified, illegitimate act that violates the human rights of the Iranian people,” Baqaei added.
It was the second wave of sanctions in less than a month since US President Donald Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy on Tehran.
US President Donald Trump earlier this month signed a memorandum restoring his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, which entails a series of strenuous sanctions on Tehran, while also detailing a set of new economic measures against the country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday said that there is no possibility of direct talks with the US over the nuclear issue for as long as the US applies its maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.
“There will be no possibility of direct talks between us and the United States on the nuclear issue as long as the maximum pressure is applied in this way,” Araghchi said in a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov following the Russian foreign minister’s visit to Tehran on Tuesday.
Araghchi’s remarks come less than three weeks after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged his government not to negotiate with the US.
Khamenei said that “it is unwise, it is not intelligent, it is not honorable to negotiate” with the US, adding that “no problem will be solved by negotiating with America."
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