20 July, 2017
Newly re-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, 22 May 2017. "I think the Americans will fail as we will always respect our global commitments", Rohani said.
But if the USA wants "to press forward with new sanctions under any pretext. the great nation of Iran will respond appropriately", he said. "We will not forgive violations by the Americans and we will stand against them".
"This Administration will continue to aggressively target Iran's malign activity, including their ongoing state support of terrorism, ballistic missile program, and human rights abuses", said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.
The sanctions were introduced one day after the State Department re-certified Tehran's compliance to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) known as the Iranian nuclear deal.
Iran hit back with its own sanctions against "American people and entities that have acted against the Iranian people and other Muslim peoples of the region". Rouhani on Wednesday accused Washington of "duplicity".
The message of the revolutionary and punishing move is totally clear: IRGC is sending a warning to the Takfiri terrorists and their regional and extra-regional sponsors that if the evil and satanic measures against the Iranian nation are repeated, the revolutionary anger and flames of the IRGC's revenge will engulf the perpetrators and lead the criminals to hell. "On other hand they seek new sanctions under various excuses against logic (and) the spirit and text" of the accord, he said.
Iran's parliament agreed on July 18 to discuss measures, including increased funding for the missile program, as retaliation for the new US sanctions, state media reported.
"We have no intention of adjusting our posture as a result of these statements", Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said.
"We are happy that so far the 5+1 (world powers) have stood strongly to protect" the nuclear deal, he said.
The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has warned the U.S. to move its military bases from within 1,000km of the country.
The US has bases in Qatar and Kuwait across the Gulf from Iran and the US Fifth Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain.
The US should also "be aware that it would pay a high price for any miscalculations", he said.