US imposes more Iran-related sanctions targeting individual, entity

The outgoing administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed more Iran-related sanctions on an entity and an individual, as Iran reasserts its position that the 2015 nuclear deal is not open to renegotiation and that the next US administration has to observe the agreement and the UN resolution that endorses it.

According to Press TV, the US Treasury Department in a statement said on Thursday that it had imposed sanctions on Shahid Meisami Group and its director, making baseless accusations against them.  

The Treasury accused them of being involved in a so-called chemical weapons research program and linked to the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, which is sanctioned by Washington.

"Iran’s development of weapons of mass destruction is a threat to the security of its neighbors and the world,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed in the statement.

He added that the United States will continue to counter any efforts by the Iranian government “to develop chemical weapons” that may be used by it or “its proxy groups to advance their agenda.”

Iran has denounced the US for adopting a double-standard policy toward the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), reminding Washington of its support for slain Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his war on Iran in the 1980s.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has issued a fatwa (religious decree), which bans the development and production of weapons of mass destruction, including nukes, as contrary to Islam.   

During the Iraqi-imposed war, "Iran was not even allowed to use the most basic equipment and facilities like barbed wires, while the other side was provided with the most modern war equipment and even chemical weapons,” the Leader said.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians were martyred in the eight-year war Saddam imposed on Iran and many more were affected by the chemical weapons like mustard gas used by the Iraqi regime.

 ME