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U.S. Sanctions Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif

By RFE/RL July 31, 2019

WASHINGTON -- The United States on July 31 imposed restrictive measures on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, freezing any of his assets in the United States or controlled by U.S. entities, the U.S. Treasury Department announced.

"Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran's Supreme Leader, and is the regime's primary spokesperson around the world. The United States is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behavior is completely unacceptable," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

Zarif has been at the center of Iran's attempts to defuse tensions with the United States and other countries over its nuclear power industry, which Washington says is cover for a secret weapons program.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that Zarif position's is a "means of advancing many of the Supreme Leader's destabilizing policies" and that the restrictive designation "reflects this reality."

In addition to attempting to freeze assets, Washington will also limit Zarif's ability to travel. But he is expected to be able to continue to visit the United Nations in New York, albeit under tight restrictions.

Zarif said in a tweet that the United States sanctioned him because he is a threat to its agenda.

"The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's 'primary spokesperson around the world'," Zarif wrote.

He furthermore said the sanctions have "no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran."

Friction has increased over a 2015 nuclear accord under which Tehran promised to greatly limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

In 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed economically crippling sanctions in many sectors, including the crucial oil and finance industries.

France, Germany, and Britain -- three of the six remaining accord signatories -- have tried to salvage the deal and have proposed a complicated financial barter system designed to provide some economic relief to Tehran.

Iran says it no longer feels bound by the accord and on July 1 said it had amassed more than the permitted amount of low-enriched uranium.

Efforts to salvage the deal have been complicated in recent weeks by escalating tensions between London and Tehran, which were triggered by the capture of an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar and Iran's subsequent seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Hormuz Strait.

Little headway was made in Vienna on July 28 to save the nuclear accord between the pact's five remaining signatories.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-sanctions-iran-s- foreign-minister-zarif/30085930.html

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U.S. Sanctions Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif