TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday called the US Treasury Department a "jailer", a day after Washington imposed new sanctions aimed at curbing Iranian oil smuggling.
Washington on Wednesday listed a network of companies, ships and individuals on a blacklist called "oil for terrorism", allegedly run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to supply Syria with hundreds of millions of dollars in oil, in violation of US sanctions.
"The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is nothing more than a jailer, ask for exemptions," Zarif wrote in his Twitter account. "They will throw you in solitary confinement for your rudeness.
#OFAC is nothing more than a JAIL WARDEN: |
Since President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers and reimposed sanctions on Tehran last year, Washington has been waging a "maximum pressure" campaign aimed at curbing Iran's oil exports, the country's main source of income.
"The only way to ease US economic terrorism (sanctions) is to finally decide to free yourself from the gallows," Zarif wrote on Twitter.
Since May, Iran has begun to reduce its commitment to the deal, aimed at pressuring European signatories to protect its economy, which has been bogged down by US sanctions.