Iran slaps sanctions on Trump, other US officials over terrorism

Tehran has slapped sanctions on outgoing US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo along with several current and former members of the outgoing  administration for their role in terrorist and inhumane actions against Iran and its citizens.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry “added a number of American individuals to its sanctions list for committing terrorist crimes, promoting and supporting terrorism, which is a serious threat to regional and international peace and security, and for violating basic rules and fundamental principles of international law, including human rights,” Saeed Khatibzadeh, the ministry’s spokesman, said on Tuesday.

He said Iran’s measure was taken under a law titled “Countering America’s Human Rights Violation and Adventurous and Terrorist Actions” passed by the Iranian Parliament in 2017.

He said the sanctioned officials include Trump, Pompeo, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, CIA Director Gina Haspel, former national security adviser John Bolton, former US envoy for Iran Brian Hook and his successor Elliot Abrams, and chief of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Andera Gacki.

The spokesperson added that Iran placed sanctions on the US officials for their involvement in the assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his companions in Iraq in January 2020, management of and support for acts of terror against the Islamic Republic, and creating, financing and training terrorist groups and providing them with weapons.

He said the US officials have been blacklisted for their full support for the Israeli regime’s acts of aggression against the Palestinian people, particularly the regime’s terrorist move to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

They have also been targeted for imposing cruel, illegal and unilateral sanctions on Iran and acting deliberately to create "specific living conditions for Iranians" by blocking their access to food, medicine, medical services and equipment, the official said.

The US officials have, furthermore, supported suppressive regimes in the region and their crimes against humanity and war crimes in Yemen, maintained active and full connection with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group and provided it with political and cultural support, paving the way for several terrorist measures against the interests of the Iranian government and nation, Khatibzadeh added.

Based on principles of international law, imposing unilateral sanctions and unilateral bullying measures are either a clear violation of the fundamental principles of the international law mentioned in the United Nations Charter or run counter to humanitarian international law, which would prevent the materialization of human rights, he added.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its right to adopt the necessary strategies to counter America’s international criminal acts in all fields,” the Iranian spokesman said.

He said Iran’s Foreign Ministry would issue a detailed statement about these American officials’ crimes as soon as possible.

Iran puts US forces in West Asia region on its terror blacklist

Iran designates US government a supporter of terrorism and American forces in West Asia a terrorist organization.

In April 2019, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) slammed the US government as “supporter of terrorism,” designating American forces in West Asia, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), as a “terrorist organization.”

The top Iranian security council said the designation came as a “reciprocal measure” against Trump’s “illegal and unwise” move to blacklist Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization.

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