Iran slams ‘desperate attempt’ by US to ramp up ‘maximum pressure’ campaign by ending sanctions waivers
Tehran has dismissed the Trump administration’s “desperate attempt” to increase pressure on Iran by ending sanctions waivers that had allowed Russian, Chinese and European firms to keep working at civilian Iranian nuclear sites.
Washington will give foreign governments 60 days to wind down operations on the facilities or face new sanctions of their own, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. The waivers had been in place since President Donald Trump tore up the 2015 nuclear deal two years ago.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said Washington was engaging in a “desperate attempt to distract public opinion and the world from its continued defeats at the hands of Iran” and that ending waivers would have “effectively no impact” on the country’s continued nuclear program, which it insists is purely civilian.
“These actions are just media noise and nothing more,” the statement added.