US President Donald Trump has ordered sanctions against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and eight IRGC commanders. Iran says this marks the end of diplomacy
President Trump issued sanctions against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iranian officials, and eight IRGC commanders on Monday.
The US President clarified that the new sanctions would restrict access to financial resources for the Iranian Supreme Leader and his office.
He asserted, “These measures represent a strong and proportionate response to Iran’s increasingly provocative actions.”
“We do not seek conflict with Iran or any other country. I can only tell you we cannot ever let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” President Trump added.
Reportedly, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will also be facing sanction in the days to come.
He led the negotiations during the 2015 Nuclear Deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 (US, UK, China, Russia, France, and Germany) nations.
According to a US Treasury statement, sanctions also targeted eight navy, aerospace and ground commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp.
The statement alleged that the sanctioned commanders facilitated IRGC’s malicious regional activities.
These included IRGC’s “provocative ballistic missile program, harassment and sabotage of commercial vessels in international waters, and its destabilizing presence in Syria.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused the Iranian Supreme Leader of corruption. He said, the leader’s office “has enriched itself at the expense of the Iranian people.”
“It sits atop a vast network of tyranny and corruption that deprives the Iranian people of the freedom and opportunity they deserve,” He added.
Soon after US sanctioned Ali Khamenei, Iran asserted, the move marked “permanent closure” of diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said, “Imposing useless sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader and the commander of Iran’s diplomacy (FM Mohammad Javad Zarif ) is the permanent closure of the path of diplomacy.”
He added, “Trump’s desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security.”
Also read: http://diplomacybeyond.com/us-president-to-impose-new-sanctions-on-irans-absolutely-broken-economy/