Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday in a response to the US fresh sanctions imposed against Iran over its ballistic missile program, a day after international sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program were lifted.
The full text of the statement is as follows:
Yesterday, the US government saw itself compelled before the will and perseverance of the people and the dignified interaction of the Islamic Republic of Iran to not only lift nuclear sanctions in one day and thus remove illegal barriers to trade and economic cooperation with Iran as well as to release of the country’s frozen assets worth tens of billions of dollars, but it also accepted the invalidity and ineffectiveness of the sanctions regime as it moved well beyond the sanctions relief to settle a part of Iran’s military purchase case after 37 years and pay a $1.7 billion delay compensation to Iran, as well as removing restrictions on 28 Iranians in the United States in place for releasing 4 prisoners to the US and the immediate lift of sanctions on Sepah Bank under its commitments to the JCPOA.
Under these circumstances, imposing new sanctions by the Treasury Department against firms and individuals under the pretext of Iran’s missile defense program on the same day that the US lifted the unjust nuclear sanctions is an attempt to give points to the domestic and foreign centers of power and influence that have for decades kept the United States hostage. These arrogant and avaricious elements that now see their Iranophobia policy in ruins and cannot bear the fact that Iran’s nuclear rights have been achieved, have now become agitated and openly express their complete hostility toward the JCPOA.
Regrettably, the US administration, in a bid to conceal its own powerlessness before the will and demands of the Iranian nation and the acceptance of the country’s peaceful nuclear program on the one hand, and its move to remove the unjust and cruel sanctions on the other, has revealed its chronic addiction to unilateralism and ineffective sanctions by adding a number of Iranian firms to the previous lists.
The complaints against Iran’s defensive and deterrent missile program by the US as a country which annually sells billions of dollars worth of advanced weaponry to the countries in the region which then use them conventionally in war crimes against Palestinians, Lebanese and most recently Yemeni civilians, is completely void of any legal and moral legitimacy.
Iran’s missile program has by no means been designed for carrying nuclear weapons and thus does not run counter to any international principle.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly announced that while it will closely monitor the US implementation of commitments under the JCPOA and decide about its own responses, it will react to such propagandist and harassing measures by following up on its legal missile program in earnest and further improve the country’s defense capabilities and national security.
The international community and economic organizations have also shown their indifference to the US propagandist actions and expressed their keen interest to cooperate with Iran by taking full advantage of the post-sanction opportunities. The Iranian nation will now witness bearing of the fruits of their wise interaction and dignified perseverance that will of course benefit peace and stability in the region and across the world.
The structure of sanctions regime has now collapsed and its reconstruction is impossible. The Islamic Republic of Iran will pursue in earnest all opportunities that stem from the JCPOA and its constructive policy.
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