Iran underestimated a new sanctions package that US lawmakers would seek to pass, and expected it to fail. It also called for confronting Washington's efforts to extend the arms embargo imposed on it, while a US official said that Washington wants a new nuclear agreement with Tehran that includes missiles and detainees.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in statements made today, Wednesday, that the efforts of US Republican lawmakers to offer an additional sanctions package against Tehran are unsuccessful attempts and will not achieve any result.
Mousavi called on the countries of the world to confront the American moves and policies that he said are restricting free trade in the world and target Washington's allies as well.
He also pointed out that the international community does not support the American measures, stressing that they contradict international laws and norms.
Reuters reported that Russia and China are working together to prevent new US sanctions against Iran.
The agency revealed that the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers have written all members of the UN Security Council and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the matter.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the United States' tone of tightening sanctions against Iran as totally unacceptable, and that American behavior is absurd and reckless, as he put it.
Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives said that they will unveil today a report that includes their strategic vision to deal with global threats facing the United States, especially from Russia, China and Iran.
With regard to Iran, the plan of these legislators includes - among other items - ending exemptions that allow it to export electricity to Iraq.
A new agreement, for
his part, said US special envoy to Iran, Brian Hook, that Washington wants an agreement with Tehran that includes the Iranian nuclear program, the missile program, and the release of "hostages". In May 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers.
Hook said in press statements that the end of the arms embargo resolution on Iran cannot be allowed to expire, and that agreement to extend it must be in the Security Council.
On the other hand, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on the Security Council to confront Washington's efforts to extend the arms embargo to his country, and urged Russia and China to stand before their efforts to prevent his country from reaching its right under the nuclear agreement.
Russia and China are opposed to extending the embargo, which expires next October, and Iran, for its part, assures that Washington will not be able to extend it.
Regarding the exchange of detainees between the United States and Iran, Hook said he negotiated for months with Tehran via Switzerland to release the Americans held there.
And US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded in a press conference today that Iran immediately release all Americans held by it.
On another issue, Hook said that ships carrying oil from Iran to Venezuela were unable to reach its station, and that this was the result of what he described as active US diplomacy, and stressed that his country would make all efforts to prevent Iran from exporting its oil.
It is noteworthy that Iran recently sent several tankers carrying fuel shipments to Venezuela, which is an ally of Iran, and the two countries confirmed the arrival of the tankers to the Venezuelan ports.