Iran says 'no more diplomacy with US' after Donald Trump imposes sanctions on nation's leader

US President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order for sanctions on Iran's supreme leader
AFP/Getty Images
Megan White25 June 2019

Iran has said there will be no more diplomacy between Tehran and the US after President Trump targeted the nation’s leader with more sanctions.

The latest round of sanctions, introduced on Monday, target the Islamic Republic's supreme leader and other top officials.

They mean Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his associates will be denied access to financial resources and blocked access to any financial assets they have under US jurisdiction.

Officials said they also plan sanctions against Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Donald Trump holds up the executive order which he signed to introduce more sanctions on Iranian officials
AP

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency on Tuesday quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying that Trump's move means the end of diplomacy between the two countries.

He said: "The fruitless sanctions on Iran's leadership and the chief of Iranian diplomacy mean the permanent closure of the road of diplomacy with the frustrated U.S. administration.”

Washington says the measures were taken to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and supporting militant groups.

The move comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's unravelling nuclear deal with world powers.

Mr Mousavi's statement echoed that of Iran's UN ambassador, Majid Takht Ravanchi, who warned on Monday that the situation in the Persian Gulf is "very dangerous" and said any talks with the US are impossible in the face of escalating sanctions and intimidation.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran last week
EPA

Meanwhile, the US envoy at the United Nations, Jonathan Cohen, said the Trump administration's aim is to get Tehran back to negotiations.

The sanctions follow Iran's downing last week of a surveillance drone, worth over $100 million, over the Strait of Hormuz, an attack that sharply escalated the crisis in the Persian Gulf.

After the downing of the drone, President Trump pulled back from the brink of retaliatory military strikes but continued his pressure campaign against Iran.

He re-imposed sanctions last year after pulling the US out of the nuclear pact that world powers made with Tehran in 2015.

Other nations stayed in the deal, which eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbing its nuclear program.

Donald Trump signing the new order imposing fresh sanctions on Iran
Getty Images

Trump said the new sanctions are not only in response to the downing of the American drone.

The US has blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers this month near the Strait of Hormuz.

Citing those episodes and intelligence about other Iranian threats, the US has sent an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region and deployed additional troops alongside the tens of thousands already there.

The sanctions were announced as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was holding talks in the Middle East with officials in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia about building a broad, global coalition that includes Asian and European countries to counter Iran.

Mr Pompeo is likely to face a tough sell in Europe and Asia, particularly from those nations still committed to the 2015 nuclear deal.

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