Iran says new sanctions amid Vienna talks show U.S. ill will

TEHRAN, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The imposition of new sanctions by the United States amid transparent negotiations in Vienna on the restoration of a 2015 nuclear deal indicates Washington's ill will and lack of seriousness in the talks, the Iranian government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Making the remarks at a weekly press conference, Ali Bahadori Jahromi said the imposition of such kinds of sanctions is clearly indicative of U.S. animosity toward the Iranian people, according to the official news agency IRNA.

On March 30, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on an Iran-based procurement agent and his network of companies for providing assistance to Iran's ballistic missile program.

The U.S. Treasury said the new sanctions target the companies that procured ballistic missile propellant-related materials for a unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) that is responsible for the research and development of ballistic missiles.

On the next day, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh slammed the newly-imposed sanctions as another sign of Washington's ill intent on the Iranian nation, saying the move shows America would not miss any opportunity to exert pressure on the country.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the world powers in July 2015. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting Iran to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the agreement in retaliation.

Since April 2021, several rounds of talks have been held in the Austrian capital between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, to revive the deal.

Iran insists on obtaining guarantees that the succeeding U.S. administrations would not drop the deal again and calls for the lifting of the sanctions in a verifiable manner.