*WASHINGTON – The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions againstIran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, effectively slamming thedoor on the country’s top diplomat.*
The sanctions freeze any of Zarif’s assets in the United States or that arecontrolled by US entities, the government announced, saying it also willcurtail his international travel.
“Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran’s Supreme Leader and is theregime’s primary spokesperson around the world. The United States issending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behavior iscompletely unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in astatement.
The designation of Zarif under the same sanctions earlier applied to Iran’ssupreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the latest blow by PresidentDonald Trump to the Obama administration’s attempt to end nuclear tensionsthrough negotiations.
But in a mixed message to Tehran, Washington on Wednesday extended waiversfor three Iranian civil nuclear projects, to avoid upsetting the othersignatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement — China, Russia, Germany,France and Britain.
“This is a short 90-day extension,” said White House National SecurityAdvisor John Bolton, a champion of the hawkish policy towards Tehran.
“We are watching those nuclear activities very, very closely, they remainunder daily scrutiny,” he told Fox Business.
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Zarif has been at the heart of complex talks with foreign capitals overIran’s nuclear power industry, which Tehran says is peaceful, butWashington and regional allies including Israel insist is cover for asecret weapons program.
But a senior Trump administration official said that Zarif’s diplomaticimage — bolstered by his fluent English, self-effacing humour andbackground as a US-educated academic — was false.
“The key issue is that he has had this veneer […] of being the sincere andreasonable interlocutor for the regime. Our point today is that he is nosuch thing,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“Today President Trump decided enough was enough,” the official said,accusing Zarif of functioning as “propaganda minister, not foreignminister”.
Zarif shot back, tweeting that Washington is trying to silence Iran on theinternational stage. -APP/AFP
