Iran says it will reciprocate EU sanctions

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Europe

Iran will reciprocate the European Union's (EU) move of putting two Iranians and one Iranian organization on a terror watch list, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Wednesday.

The EU earlier said it had added two Iranian individuals and the directorate for internal security of the Iranian Ministry for Intelligence to the bloc's terrorist list, which leads to the freezing of assets.

"Iran will adopt the necessary measures in response to this move and within the framework of reciprocation," Qassemi said in a statement published on the ministry's official website.

Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iranians on Wednesday to withstand the U.S. sanctions against the Islamic republic, according to the leader's official website.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with people of Qom, in Tehran, Iran, January 9, 2019. /VCG Photo

"Through the exercise of prudence, the Iranian nation and officials should turn the U.S. sanctions into an unprecedented defeat for the great Satan (United States)," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

He called on Iranian officials "for resistance against the U.S. and Europeans bluster and idol talk," saying that "neither their threats, nor their words, promises and signatures are valid."

The U.S. withdrew from the 2015 Iran international nuclear deal in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions on Iran's oil exports, its banking sector and other parts of the economy which had been lifted under the landmark deal.

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency