Iran said the path to a diplomatic solution with the U.S. had closed after the Trump administration imposed sanctions against its supreme leader and other top officials, ramping up tensions further in the Middle East.
President Donald Trump on Monday slapped sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and eight senior military commanders, that deny him and his office access to financial resources. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said financial restrictions will be imposed on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later this week.
"The futile sanctions against the Iranian leader and the country's chief diplomat mean the permanent closure of the diplomatic path with the government of the United States," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. "The Trump government is in the process of destroying all the established international mechanisms for the maintaining (of) global peace and security."