Iran has said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions imposed on its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials in the country permanently closed the path to diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing the sanctions on Monday, taking a dramatic and unprecedented step to increase pressure on Iran after Tehran’s downing of an American drone last week.
Washington said it would also impose sanctions on Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif later this week but the Islamic Republic said: “Imposing useless sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the commander of Iran’s diplomacy (Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif) is the permanent closure of the path of diplomacy,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Twitter.
Continuing, he said: “Trump’s desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security,” Mousavi tweeted.
Iran says the U.S. drone was flying over southern Iran. Washington said it was downed in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, Reuters reports.
