The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that Washington's sanctions policy has failed, adding that Americans should understand this. This comes in response to the latest US restrictive measures against Tehran.
"The United States should admit that its sanctions policy has failed," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said. He added that there is nothing new in these sanctions, as "these are old sanctions in a new form."
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, "new sanctions are aimed at blocking Iran's international transactions as well as limiting its access to food and medicines. This step is unacceptable and dangerous." Zarif stressed that the US has already imposed all the sanctions they could against Iran.
On Friday the Trump administration imposed new economic sanctions against Iran, targeting its central bank and its sovereign wealth fund. "We've now cut off all sources of funds to Iran," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
The move came following last weekend's drone attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities that caused major fires and partially disrupted the country's oil production, affecting global oil prices. Although the attacks were claimed by Yemen's Houthis, Washington blamed the incident on Tehran. The latter denied all the accusations.
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford announced on Friday that the US would be sending some of its forces to Saudi Arabia "in response to the Kingdom's request". Esper added that the deployment of US forces will be defensive in nature.
