"In response to the new measure by the United States and as a reciprocal action, the Islamic Republic of Iran will impose legal restrictions on a number of American individuals and companies which have had a role in creating and supporting extremist terrorist groups in the region or assist in the killing and suppression of defenseless people in the region,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday evening.
It came after the US added more Iranian individuals and entities to its anti-Iran sanction list on Friday. The US Treasury Department said it has published a list of 13 Iranian figures and 12 entities facing new sanctions.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the list of the targeted American figures and companies will be released later.
Benefiting from the “wise support of the great Iranian nation,” the government takes reciprocal and proportional action against “any move targeting the Iranian people’s interests,” the statement added, making a reference to the mechanism to refuse Americans visa in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s “anti-Islamic” executive order banning entry to Iranians.
The Foreign Ministry also underlined that the new US sanctions against Iran for a recent missile test are out of step with the US commitments and run counter to “the text and spirit” of the UNSC Resolution 2231.
The statement underlined that Iran is entitled to boost its defense capabilities, including missiles, under the international law and the UN Charter, making it clear that the Iranian missiles, designed for defensive programs and carrying conventional weapons, will be used only for defense.
After achievement in July 2015 of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), the 15-memebr United Nations Security Council passed a resolution to endorse the accord.
Resolution 2231 calls upon Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
Iran, however, maintains that none of its missiles have been designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads, because nuclear weapons have basically no place in the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine.
