Iran: Renewed sanctions discredit the US globally

By Ahmet Dursun

ISTANBUL (AA) – Iran’s foreign minister Saturday criticized the U.S. decision to extend sanctions on his country for another decade, according to the country's state news agency.

"The decision to extend the Iran sanctions will discredit the U.S. government in the eyes of the international community," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in New Delhi, the first stop of a Southeast Asian tour, said the IRNA news agency.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday unanimously voted to approve a 10-year extension of sanctions on Iran, many of which are waived under the current nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran.

The 99-0 vote will extend the Iran Sanctions Act, originally passed in 1996, for another decade through 2026 if President Barack Obama signs it into law.

On the country's state-run television, Ali Akbar Salehi -- the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization -- blasted the decision as a violation of the nuclear deal.

The act was originally slated to expire at year’s end.

On Friday, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the U.S. would continue to live up to its own commitments under the nuclear deal "as long as Iran keeps up its end of the deal as well.”

He added, "But we should also make clear that our concerns about Iran's other destabilizing activities in the region, like support for terrorism, their ballistic missile program – our concerns for those activities haven't waned."

On Nov. 24, Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the bill violates the nuclear deal and that Iran would respond if it becomes law.

In July 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of nations (China, Russia, the U.S., France, Britain, and Germany) signed a landmark deal under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of Western sanctions.