Iran Blasts ‘Economic Terrorism’ Against Russia

Date: 03 August 2019 - 21:49

News ID: ۶۸۹۱۰

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran has denounced new U.S. sanctions on Russia, calling them "economic terrorism”.
"The Americans’ insanity in extreme use of economic terrorism and unlawful and unilateral punishments against countries that do not think and behave like them is a failed trick,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
Such measures have lost their efficiency and will definitely not affect Russia, he added.
The White House said on Friday U.S. President Donald Trump had imposed another round of sanctions on Russia over the poisoning of a former spy in Britain, a move Moscow said would hurt already strained U.S.-Russia ties.
The move came hours before a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty expired, after Washington withdrew.
Washington imposed an initial batch of sanctions last year on Russia after accusing Moscow of using a nerve agent against a former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in Britain, which Moscow denies.
"After the first round of sanctions in response to Russia’s assassination attempt against a private citizen in the UK, Russia did not provide the assurances required under U.S. law,” said White House spokesman Hogan Gidley.
"So we are imposing a second round of sanctions. It’s another instance where we’re proving tougher on Russia than previous administrations.”
Skripal, a former colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, and his daughter were found slumped on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury in March last year after Novichok nerve agent was smeared on his front door.
The Russian rouble dipped to 65 versus the dollar on Friday for the first time in seven weeks, a fall analysts said could partly be attributed to the reported sanctions move.
"I think that this is primarily connected to U.S. domestic politics,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RT TV channel.
Ryabkov said he regretted that U.S.-Russia ties, already strained by differences over everything from Syria to Ukraine, had become a political football in the United States.
Russian officials have repeatedly complained about what they say is Trump’s lack of room for maneuver, due to pressure on him from Congress and political rivals to look tough in the wake of accusations Moscow helped him win election in 2016.
Ryabkov said Moscow linked the sanctions to upcoming presidential elections in the United States and said Moscow was ready to defend itself from any negative consequences caused by the new restrictions.