صراط عشق صراط عشق
Tehran on Saturday said it sanctioned a retired U.S. general and 23 other American nationals involved in terrorism and human rights violations.
The announcement came days after Washington imposed new sanctions on Iran amid crucial talks in Vienna to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Retired U.S. General Joseph Votel, who headed U.S. Central Command which covers the Middle East, is among the 24 sanctioned Americans. Other U.S. former treasury and military officials, ambassadors and company managers are also on the list.
Gen. Austin Scott Miller, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea are among the officials targeted by the new Iranian sanctions.
They are targeted for “their involvement in terrorist acts, glorification and supporting terrorism and gross violations of human rights,” a statement by Iran’s foreign ministry said.
Almost all the officials named served during Trump’s administration which imposed sanctions on Iranian officials, politicians and companies and withdrew the United States from the Tehran’s nuclear deal.
In a similar move announced in January, Iran imposed sanctions on 51 Americans, many of them from the U.S. military, over the 2020 assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Iraq.
Last year, it imposed sanctions on Trump and several senior U.S. officials.
The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed draconian economic sanctions, prompting Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments the following year.
U.S. sanctions “including by deprivation of access to medicine and medical equipment and services, especially, in the situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic… has endangered lives of millions of Iranians,” the foreign ministry statement said.
“Such unlawful measures constitute flagrant violations of the fundamental principles of international law and fundamental human rights and are a clear example of crime against humanity.”
In late March, the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions targeting several entities it accused of involvement in procuring supplies for Iran’s ballistic missile program.
A day later, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Washington’s latest sanctions showed its “ill will” towards the country.
On Saturday, the foreign ministry said the new American nationals were sanctioned for their role in imposing and intensifying unilateral coercive measures against the Iranian government and people.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in conformity with the Act on Countering Violations of Human Rights and Adventurist and Terrorist Actions of the United States of America in the Region, particularly, Articles 4 and 5, identifies and imposes sanctions as set forth in the above-mentioned Act on the following persons in connection with their involvement in terrorist acts, glorification and supporting terrorism and gross violations of human rights.”
