Russia: ‘New US sanctions against Iran illegal’

The Kremlin yesterday announced that the Russian government considers the new US sanctions imposed on Iran illegal.

“We consider the new sanctions illegal. That’s all we can say”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Piskov told reporters amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran.

The US yesterday announced additional sanctions against Iran, targeting Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. US President Donald Trump called the fresh round of sanctions “hard-hitting”, while Khamenei slammed the decision as representing the “permanent closure of the path of diplomacy”.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi stated that the sanctions would have “no effect”, questioning “are there still any other types of sanctions that the US has not imposed on our country or our nation recently or during the last 40 years?”

He continued: “We do not really know what these new sanctions are or what the US wants to target yet. However, we think these restrictions will have no considerable effect.”

Poll: Less than a 25% of Americans want Iran war

Tensions between the US and Iran have escalated since the downing of a US military drone by Iran last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of a “catastrophe” if the US used force against Iran.

In May 2018, Trump decided to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which is considered by Europe, Russia and China – who are still part of the agreement – the best way to ensure that Iran will not manufacture nuclear weapons.

Since August 2018, the US has reintroduced a series of punitive economic sanctions against Iran as part of the “maximum pressure” campaign Washington intends to exercise on Tehran.

READ: Pompeo discusses Iran with Gulf allies amid escalating crisis