US to continue using sanctions against Iran, says Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry has rejected Iran’s criticism of new sanctions against the country, saying Washington is determined to impose more sanctions against Tehran when “appropriate.”
"We have made it very clear that we use sanctions when we think they are appropriate in order to counter behavior that we believe has broken the law or has challenged the United Nations Security Council or threatened the United States and we stand by our sanctions," Kerry told reporters on the sideline of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The top US diploamt further claimed that the sanctions against Iran and other nations have been “used judiciously and effectively.”
Kerry made the remarks in response to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who blasted the US government for imposing new sanctions over Tehran’s ballistic missile program, denouncing the move as an “addiction to coercion.”
"It shows that the United States has an addiction which has been very difficult for it to overcome," Zarif told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Last week, the US Treasury Department blacklisted five Iranian citizens and a network of companies based in the United Arab Emirates and China, only a day after the landmark Iran nuclear, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), came into effect.
Under the agreement, limits are put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.
‘Unfrozen Iran assets to end up in terrorist hands’
Elsewhere in his remarks, the top US diplomat repeated US accusations that Iran is a supporter of terrorism, saying it is likely that some of the billions of dollars in sanctions relief granted to Iran under the nuclear deal will go to groups Washington believes are terrorists.
"I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists," Kerry said.
On October 11, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) successfully test-fired its first guided ballistic missile dubbed Emad (pictured below).
Washington slammed the test, claiming the projectile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It vowed to respond with more sanctions.
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said the Emad missile was a conventional weapon.
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