US imposes curbs on Iran’s defence ministry
WASHINGTON: The United States said on Monday it was imposing sanctions on Iran’s defence ministry and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro under a UN authority which is widely contested.
“For nearly two years corrupt officials in Tehran have worked with the illegitimate regime in Venezuela to flout the UN arms embargo,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters.
“Our actions today are a warning that should be heard worldwide.”
Pompeo said that President Donald Trump has issued an executive order “that is a new and powerful tool to enforce the UN arms embargo.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, appearing with Pompeo, also announced separate sanctions on the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran.
The Trump administration argues that it is enforcing a UN arms embargo that Iran has violated, including through an atack on Saudi oil facilities.
But it is using a UN resolution that blessed a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran negotiated by former president Barack Obama.
Trump pulled out of the resolution with fanfare in 2018 but argues that the United States is still a “participant” in the accord as it was listed in the 2015 resolution.
The legal argument has been rejected by virtually all nations on the UN Security Council, including US allies.
Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s nuclear agency said that the landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers on his country’s atomic programme is struggling since the unilateral US withdrawal, but is still worth preserving.
Ali Akbar Salehi told delegates at a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, has been “caught in a quasi-stalemate situation” since President Donald Trump pulled the US out in 2018.
The deal promises Iran economic incentives in exchange for limits on its nuclear programne.
Separately, the number of novel coronavirus infections in Iran has risen by 3,341 in the past 24 hours, the highest daily tally since early June, taking total cases to 425,481, the health ministry spokeswoman told state TV on Monday.
Sima Sadat Lari said 177 people had died in the past day, pushing the official death toll to 24,478 in Iran, one of the hardest hit countries in the Middle East.