"The hostile and illegitimate actions of Trump's regime to include Larijani in the sanctions list… have crossed all red lines for behavior in the international community and represent a violation of international law and both bilateral and international US commitments, to which Iran will respond with a serious answer," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, noting that Washington's decision only demonstrated the ongoing American hostility toward Iranians.
The ministry has once again reiterated the country's position on the issue, opposing the US move concerning the Iran nuclear deal.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran stresses clearly that it will take no measures beyond its commitments under the JCPOA and will accept no changes to this agreement now or in the future and will not allow that the JCPOA be linked to any other issue [than the nuclear issue]," the statement read.
Iran's Foreign Ministry, sending a strong message to the US, has named those, whom they consider to be behind the attempt to undermine the deal, which took years and great diplomatic efforts to reach.
"The internal solidity of and international support for the agreement have blocked attempts by Mr. Trump, the Zionist regime [of Israel], and the ominous alliance of hard-line warmongers to terminate this agreement or make changes to it," the ministry said.
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The tough stance was voiced a day after US President Donald Trump announced his decision to suspend restrictions on Iran for another 120 days to remain in the deal so that the United States and Europe could fix "significant flaws" in it. Simultaneously, Washington imposed separate sanctions on a dozen Iranian individuals, including Iran's Chief of Judiciary Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, and entities, related to the country's ballistic missile program.
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The decision is in line with a position Trump has been voicing in relation to the Islamic Republic since his election campaign. When he became the US president, Trump officially reiterated his views concerning the country, refusing to re-certify the deal in late October 2017.
Despite all this criticism, Trump, however, does not contest Tehran's compliance with the deal at the international level, while at the same time not excluding the possibility of withdrawing from the deal if the agreement is not improved. Other JCPOA signatories have called on the United States to comply with the agreement's provisions, saying that the deal had yielded results and was non-negotiable.
The Iran deal, also known as the JCPOA, that was signed in July 2015 by Tehran and the P5+1 group of nations — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, stipulates a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in exchange for the country maintaining peaceful nature of its nuclear program.