Iran Slams New U.S. Sanctions On Petrochemicals

Iran condemned the U.S. for placing new sanctions on a large petrochemicals company, saying it showed that the Trump administration’s recent offer to negotiate was “empty”.

“The recent U.S. sanctions are again a clear violation of international rules and a confirmation of American economic terrorism,’’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency on Saturday.

On Friday the Trump administration said it was imposing sanctions on Iran’s largest petrochemical holding group.

The administration accused it of providing support to the country’s Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force which the U.S. labelled as a terrorist organisation in April.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week that the U.S. was ready to talk to Iran “with no preconditions” in an effort to ease mounting tensions.

Mousavi said the latest sanctions undercut that overture and showed that the Trump administration’s negotiating offers were “absurd, empty and fraudulent’’.

The U.S. has been placing immense economic pressure on Iran for over a year in the form a sanctions that were reimposed as Washington abandoned the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the international community in 2015.

Washington is seeking to renegotiate the deal, a proposition which Tehran has adamantly rejected.