Iran Deplores New US Sanctions
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday strongly criticized the US for imposing new sanctions on the targets Washington claims had a role in helping Tehran avoid the previous sanctions, saying such a move runs counter to the Geneva interim nuclear deal.
“We strongly deplore the new US measure to impose sanctions on certain individuals and companies, and consider it as a violation of US commitments under the Geneva interim deal,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in her weekly press conference on Wednesday.
“Such a move is a clear violation of the principle of goodwill,” she added.
Afkham also said such decisions fit for US “domestic consumption” alone, stressing that they will have no bearing on Iran’s foreign trade.
Her comments came after the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nine new targets on Tuesday, accusing them of violating anti-Iran sanctions.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that two Tehran-based tech firms and a United Arab Emirates-based trading company were sanctioned for allegations of helping Iran obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran.
Six citizens from Iran, Afghanistan, and Saint Kitts and Nevis are also the targets for penalties.
The new sanctions come against the backdrop of unfinished nuclear talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
In November 2013, the two sides signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Based on the agreement, known as the Joint Plan of Action, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities.
The parties wrapped up a week of intensive nuclear talks in Vienna on November 24 without reaching a long-awaited deal they were supposed to hammer out by the self-imposed November 24 deadline.
But they decided to extend talks for more seven months. The next round of nuclear negotiations will be held in Geneva at the level of deputies on January 15, 2015.
